Clustering of human papillomavirus (HPV) types in the male genital tract: the HPV in men (HIM) study.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate clustering patterns of prevalent infection with multiple human papillomavirus (HPV) types in 3677 men from the HPV in Men (HIM) study.

METHODS

HPV testing was performed in samples combined from the glans penis/coronal sulcus, the shaft, and the scrotum by Linear Array methodology. Linear Array uses a mixed probe to assess HPV52 positivity, which limits the assay's ability to determine HPV52 status in the presence of HPV33, 35, or 58. Logistic regression was used to model type-specific HPV positivity, adjusted for age, study area, lifetime number of sexual partners, and specific HPV type prevalence. Participant-level random effects were added to represent unobservable risk factors common to all HPV types.

RESULTS

The observed-to-expected ratio for infections with ≥ 3 types was 1.09 (95% credible interval, 1.04-1.14). For the majority of 2-type combinations, no evidence was found of a significant departure of the observed from the expected number. An apparent clustering of HPV52 with HPV35 or 58 was observed, because of limitation in the ability of Linear Array to define HPV52 positivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study showed that, despite obvious anatomical differences, HPV coinfections do seem to occur at random in the male external genitalia as in the female cervix.