Clinical Manifestations of Genital HPV Infection

The Human papillomavirus infection is the sexually transmitted infection most frequent in man and woman (Koutsky, 1997; Worda, 2005). The probability of transmission of HPV through sexual intercourse varies from 5 to 100% with an average of 40%. The probability of transmission per partner (male-female) is estimated at 60% for HPV 16 and 60% for HPV that causes genital warts. Detection of HPV DNA by the molecular biological methods, does not necessarily represent the manisfestation of a disease (Burchell et al, 2006). According to The World Health Organization (WHO), more than 630 million men and women (1 in every 10 people) are infected with HPV in the world (Ferlay et al, 2004; CDC, 2007). Clinical manifestation is present in less than 10% and the infection is often asymptomatic and can be unnoticed by the patient even though a lesion is present. It is believed, that approximately 1/3 of all women en the world have some form of clinically manifested HPV infection. Also, half of all the women of the world sexually active are infected with this virus (Snoeck, 2006).