The spectrum of genital human papillomavirus infection among men attending a Swedish sexually-transmitted infections clinic: human papillomavirus typing and clinical presentation of histopathologically benign lesions.

There have been a number of Swedish studies on human papillomavirus (HPV) typing in men, most of which have used less sensitive HPV-typing techniques. The present study included male patients with genital HPV-induced lesions planned for surgery. Samples were prepared for histopathology and PCR. HPV was detected in 233/253 (92%) and HPV 6 or 11 in 89% of the HPV-positive lesions. There were statistically significant differences regarding morphology (p=0.002), location (p=0.000001) and colour (p=0.005) of the lesions for low- vs. mixed or high-risk HPV types. For example, acuminate lesions were mostly found among men with low-risk HPV types, whereas macular lesions were over-represented among them with mixed or high-risk types. The HPV type distribution is similar to that in earlier studies, but we also found correlations with some clinical parameters.