Genital tract papillomavirus type 6 in recurrent conjunctival papilloma.

An infant boy born of a mother who had condylomata (genital warts) during pregnancy and at delivery developed recurrent conjunctival papillomas and papillomas on the soft palate and the false vocal cords. A conjunctival lesion was first noticed by the mother when the infant was 4 months old and was excised and histologically diagnosed as a papilloma when he was 11 months old. The DNA sequences of genital tract human papillomavirus type 6 (HPV-6) were identified in conjunctival papilloma tissue by Southern transfer hybridization of tissue DNA extracted from a lesion excised at 29 months of age as well as by in situ hybridization of paraffin sections of the diagnostic biopsy specimen obtained at 11 months of age. It is probable that the infant acquired conjunctival infection from the mother, very likely during passage through the infected birth canal.