The epidemiology of human papillomaviruses

Abstract

Epidemiological studies indicate that most men and women will acquire a sexually transmitted anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in their lifetimes. In addition, infection with cutaneous HPV types is essentially ubiquitous. Most HPV infections are transient with no clinical symptoms although a minority of infections result in clinical disease such as warts or malignancies. Anogenital warts are the most common clinical manifestation of HPV infection with a prevalence of perhaps 1%. Virtually 100% of cervical cancers, 90-93% of anal canal cancers, 12-63% of oropharyngeal cancers, 36-40% of penile cancers, 40-64% of vaginal cancers and 40-51% of vulvar cancers are attributable to HPV infection. Of the estimated 12.7 million cancers occurring globally in 2008, 610,000 (approx. 5%) were HPV-associated anogenital or oral cancers. Cutaneous HPV types may increase the risk for nonmelanoma skin cancers. Sexual behavior is a primary risk factor associated with anogenital and oral HPV infection among men and women.