Prevalence of HPV Genotypes in Adult Male Patients with Cutaneous Warts: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study was aimed at determining the distribution of type-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) in men with cutaneous warts and correlating this with the clinical and morphological presentation of warts.

Cutaneous wart samples were obtained from 167 adult men presenting to a dermatology clinic. The tissues were fixed and screened for HPV DNA using real-time PCR. The HPV genotype was determined by PCR-based sequencing.

Nine different HPV genotypes were detected, comprising 6 from the α genus (HPV2, 6, 27b, 57b, 57c, and 94), 2 from the γ genus (HPV4 and 65), and HPV1a from the mu genus. Single HPV infection was encountered in 93.4% of the patients, whereas multiple infections were encountered in only 6.6%. The prevalence of HPV27b was highest among four body sites, followed by HPV57c, 1a, and 2. HPV1a was the most common genotype encountered in multiple infections, followed by HPV27b. Patient age, the number of warts, the duration of the presence of warts, and contact with people who have warts were not predictors of wart location. However, a high number of patients with palmar or common body warts had wart sizes of <1 cm.

This study shows that genus α HPV types are detected in about 82% of patients with cutaneous warts.