Seminal human papillomavirus originates from the body surface and is not a frequent aetiological factor in azoospermia.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA has been detected in the testis tissue of 6.5% of 185 men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). Others have suggested that seminal HPV originates from contamination from the genital skin and mucosa. One hundred unselected azoospermic men and 43 normal men undergoing vasectomy were recruited. Testicular biopsies for HPV examination were collected from all the men. Additionally, the normal men undergoing vasectomy delivered a semen sample and had a swab for HPV examination taken from the genital skin before vasectomy. A piece of each Vas deferens obtained during the vasectomy was examined for the presence of HPV. Two of the primarily azoospermic men were shown to have cryptozoospermia. It was not possible to detect HPV in the testis tissue of any of the included 98 azoospermic men or the 43 proven fertile men. In the proven fertile men, HPV DNA was detected in the semen of 15 men (35%), on the genital skin of 28 men (65%), and in the Vas deferens in three cases (7%). In 13 (87%) men with HPV-positive semen samples, HPV DNA was also detected in the skin swabs, and in 11 men (73%), identical HPV genotypes were found in the two locations.

Transmission of chimeric HIV by mating in conventional mice: prevention by pre-exposure antiretroviral therapy and reduced susceptibility during estrus.

Heterosexual transmission accounts for the majority of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases worldwide. The current approach to investigate HIV heterosexual transmission in animals involves application of virus stock to the vaginal surface, a method that does not reproduce the physiological conditions of vaginal intercourse that influence the rate of transmission. We have previously described efficient infection of conventional mice using EcoHIV/NL4-3 and EcoHIV/NDK, chimeric HIV molecular clones constructed to express all HIV structural and regulatory genes except envelope, which is replaced by a rodent-tropic envelope gene. Here we investigated whether EcoHIV/NDK-infected male mice transmit virus to females during coitus, and the sensitivity of this transmission to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and the estrus state. Our general approach was to allow mating between EcoHIV/NDK-infected male mice and uninfected females for 1-7 nights. At 1-6 weeks after mating, mice were euthanized and virus burdens were measured by quantitative PCR (qPCR) amplification of HIV RNA or DNA in peritoneal macrophages, inguinal lymph node cells, spleen cells or vas deferens, or by ELISA for antibodies to HIV Gag. We found that 70-100% of female mice mated to EcoHIV/NDK-infected males acquired infection. Pericoital treatment of females with either 2',3'-dideoxcytidine (ddC) or tenofovir largely prevented their EcoHIV/NDK infection by mating (P<0.05 and P<0.003, respectively). In males, T cells were dispensable for virus transmission. The rate of EcoHIV/NDK sexual transmission to females in estrus declined sharply (P=0.003) but their infection by injection was unaffected, indicating that the local environment in the female reproductive tract influences susceptibility to HIV. We conclude that this system of EcoHIV/NDK transmission during mouse mating reproduces key features of heterosexual transmission of HIV in humans and can be used to investigate its biology and control.

Human papillomavirus infection of the epididymis and ductus deferens: an evaluation by nested polymerase chain reaction.

CONTEXT: Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) play an important role in the etiology of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. The possible role of the male urogenital tract as a reservoir of HPV infection is not fully understood. We inferred from our previous observation of HPV-31 in epididymal tissue in a case of chronic epididymitis that HPV might be commonly present in cases of epididymitis caused by sexually transmitted pathogens. OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of HPV in the epididymis and ductus deferens in nontuberculous epididymitis. DESIGN: Epididymal samples obtained from 17 patients and epididymal and ductus deferens samples from 5 patients surgically treated for nontuberculous epididymitis were analyzed by nested polymerase chain reaction for the presence of HPV DNA. In positive samples, the HPV type was determined by DNA sequencing. SETTING: Tertiary-care academic hospital and national reference laboratory for papillomaviruses. RESULTS: Low-risk HPV type 6 and high-risk HPV types 16, 33, 35, 55, and 73 were detected in 7 patients (31%). Neither koilocytes nor dysplastic changes were found in the epididymis and ductus deferens. CONCLUSION: Low-risk and high-risk HPV types were detected in the epididymis and ductus deferens of patients with nontuberculous epididymitis. The infection was not accompanied by koilocytic atypia or dysplasia. Our findings support the hypothesis that the male urogenital tract serves as a reservoir of HPV infection.

Human papillomavirus DNA is found in the vas deferens.

The role of the male reproductive tract as a reservoir for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is poorly understood. To analyze the presence of HPV DNA, 27 samples, comprising postvasectomy semen samples and pre- and postejaculation urine samples, were obtained from 18 men recalled for follow-up. HPV DNA was analyzed by nested polymerase chain reaction, confirmed with Southern blot hybridization, cloned, and sequenced. Multiple HPV types were found in different DNA samples of the same men. Five (18.5%) of 27 vas deferens samples contained HPV type 6, 11, or 16. Five (27.8%) of 18 seminal plasma samples (secretions without semen cells) were HPV DNA positive. None of the men had both vas deferens and semen plasma samples HPV positive. Several HPV types can be detected in the male reproductive tract at the same time. This is the first report to show HPV DNA in the vas deferens.

Failure to establish chronic infection of the reproductive tract of the male horse with a South African asinine strain of equine arteritis virus (EAV).

Eight sexually mature horse stallions were inoculated intranasally with a South African asinine strain of EAV, a strain that was isolated from the semen of a donkey carrier. All horses developed fever, with maximum rectal temperatures of 38.9-39.9 degrees C recorded 3-6 d post challenge. Six horses showed very mild clinical signs of equine viral arteritis and two were asymptomatic. The virus was recovered from the nasopharynxes of six horses 2-7 d after inoculation, and from buffy-coat samples of all horses, 2-11 d after inoculation. Seroconversion to EAV was detected on days 8 and 10 and peak serum-virus-neutralizing antibody titres ranging from log10 1.2-1.8, on days 14-20 after challenge. The titres varied from log10 0.9-1.2 after about 10 weeks, when the experiment was terminated. In three stallions euthanased on days 5, 7 and 9 after challenge, virus was detected inconsistently in different parts of the reproductive tract and urine. No virus was isolated from the tissues of the reproductive tract collected from stallions on days 16, 23 and 68 after challenge. Five stallions were bred to six seronegative mares between 13 and 34 d post challenge. No clinical signs of EAV were observed, and neither was seroconversion detected in any of the mares after mating. No virus was recovered from semen samples collected at the time of breeding. The results of this study demonstrated that the tissues of the reproductive tracts of the stallions did not become persistently infected with a South African asinine strain of EAV.