Human papilloma virus (HPV)

Human papilloma virus (HPV)

Papillomaviruses

Papillomaviruses are nonenveloped DNA viruses. These viruses are diverse, but all can infect the skin and mucosal tissues of a many vertebrate species, including humans. A group of genital mucosotropic human papillomavirus (HPV) types are etiologic agents responsible for virtually all cases of cancer of the uterine cervix, as well as a substantial fraction of other ano-genital and head-and-neck cancers (reviewed in [1]). Cancer-associated genital HPV types, as well as another subset of HPV types associated with the development of benign genital warts (condyloma accuminata), are generally transmitted through sexual contact. Infection with genital HPV types is very common, with an estimated lifetime risk of infection of about 75% [2]. Although most genital HPV infections are subclinical and self-limiting, a subset of persistently infected individuals have lesions that progress to premalignancy or cancer.