Prevalence of human papillomaviruses in the healthy oral mucosa of women with high-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion and of their partners as compared to healthy controls

Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) carriage rates were investigated in relation to genital HPV carriage in women with HPV‐associated cervical lesions and male partner of such women, including several couples, in comparison with healthy individuals. Buccal and lingual mucosa of 60 males and 149 females with healthy oral mucosa and without known genital lesion, genital and oral mucosa of further 40 females with cervical high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and 34 male sexual partners of women with HSIL (including 20 couples) were sampled. HPV DNA was detected using MY/GP PCR. Genotype was determined by sequencing or restriction fragment length polymorphism. Virus copy numbers were determined by real‐time PCR. Overall, oral HPV carriage rate was 5.7% (12/209) in healthy individuals; average copy number was 5.8 × 102 copies/1 μg DNA; male and female rates were comparable. Oral carriage in women with HSIL was significantly higher, 20.0% (8/40, P = 0.003); males with partners with HSIL showed a carriage rate of 17.6% (6/34), copy numbers were similar to the healthy controls. In contrast, genital carriage rate (52.9%, 18/34 vs. 82.5%, 33/40; P = 0.006) and average copy number were lower in males (5.0 × 105 vs. 7.8 × 105 copies/1 μg DNA; P = 0.01). Oral copy numbers in these groups and in healthy individuals were comparable. High‐risk genotypes were dominant; couples usually had the same genotype in the genital sample. In conclusion, genital HPV carriage is a risk factor of oral carriage for the individual or for the sexual partner, but alone is not sufficient to produce an oral HPV infection in most cases.