44. Detection of the human papillomavirus infection (HPV) on the internationally used environmental surfaces: ready for a ‘take-off’?

Abstract

Background: Incidence rates continue to increase for HPV-associated anal cancer in both women and men. HPV is the most common viral STI but the transmission of the virus via environmental surfaces has been neither confirmed nor disproved. Studies of HPV DNA on environmental surfaces could provide insights of the magnitude of this problem. In the modern era, international travel has become a routine. We investigated the HPV contamination of the surfaces that frequently contact anogenital skin, specifically toilet seats in airport rest rooms. Methods: Within a pilot study started in St Petersburg, samples from apparently clean areas of (fe)male toilet seats at the departure zones of 36 airports in 22 countries were collected with the same cytobrush sampling procedure as typically used in HPV epidemiological studies, routinely β-globin RT-PCR tested for human DNA and HPV genotyped by the proficient in the WHO HPV LabNet global proficiency panel Luminex assay for 13 oncogenic and 23 non-oncogenic HPV types. Results: Comparable to the reports from high sexual risk-taking groups in humans, HPV DNA was found in 22.1% of the 172 samples, high-risk HPVs in 16.3%, HPV-16 in 14.5% and multiple HPV types in 1.7%. Conclusions: Caution is required when interpreting the presence of HPV DNA as an ‘infection’: the presence of HPV DNA does not necessarily indicate the presence of infectious virus and this study therefore does not provide any evidence regarding routes of HPV transmission. Data on incidence, prevalence and clearance of HPV infection in men are essential for the development of models estimating the effect of male HPV vaccination.