Human papillomavirus prevalence and types in newborns and parents: concordance and modes of transmission

Abstract

Background and objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the risk of vertical and early contact transmission of human papillomavirus (HPV) in newborn infants based on concordance and sequence match to HPV types in parents.

Study design: The genitals of pregnant women and newborns and oral cavity of parents and newborns were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Data were collected about reproductive health and risk factors for HPV.

Results: Only one mother/newborn and no father/newborn pair was concordant for an HPV type. All other infected newborns had uninfected or discordant type infected parents.

Conclusion: The risk of vertical transmission to the oral or genital region of newborns is rare, and transmission between parents and the hospitalized newborn does not appear to occur. Lack of parent/child concordance suggests that newborns detected with HPV in their oral cavity or genitals could have become infected by their mother at untested intervals during pregnancy or in newborns with infection in the oral cavity by other contacts after birth.