Improving oral human papillomavirus detection using toothbrush sampling in HIV-positive men who have sex with men

Pre- and postabrasion oral rinse samples (ORS) and a toothbrush sample detected human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in at least one sample among 45 (26%) of 173 HIV-positive men who have sex with men. There was moderate agreement for HPV genotype detection between the preabrasion and postabrasion ORS (κ = 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37 to 0.61). There was good agreement between postabrasion ORS and toothbrushes (κ = 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.80). The sensitivities for HPV genotypes detected were 80% (95% CI, 69 to 88) for preabrasion ORS, 65% (95% CI, 54 to 76) for postabrasion ORS, and 75% (95% CI, 63 to 84) for toothbrushes.