Medicina 2002; 38 (5): 499-504

Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania, ¹A.Mickiewicz University of Poznan, Poland

Key words: papillomaviruses, polymerase chain reaction, prevalence, risk factors, persistence of virus.

Summary. Infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses is a significant risk factor of various benign and malignant human lesions in the upper respiratory tract, skin and the genital tract. The identification of particular human papillomaviruses types is important for identifying patients with premalignant lesions who are at risk of progression to malignancy.

Our aim was to establish the prevalence of human papillomaviruses infection in the upper respiratory tract of patients with laryngeal papillomatosis, to identify viral types, to evaluate the relationship between some risk factors and persistence of human papillomaviruses in the upper respiratory tract and to determine the pattern of human papillomaviruses infection.

Material and methods. The group of 36 patients with laryngeal papillomatosis and control group of 108 persons without any complains of respiratory system was examined. Epidemiologic characteristics and objective data were analyzed and routine laryngological examination was performed. Pharyngeal swabs of all persons and laryngeal biopsies of 17 patients were taken and analyzed for the presence of human papillomaviruses DNA. Viral typing using the polymerase chain reaction was performed.

Results. Human papillomaviruses DNA was detected in all except one case of laryngeal papillomatosis; then only 23.15% of persons without complaints of respiratory system were found human papillomaviruses positive. Human papillomaviruses 6, 11 types were predominant (in 88.9% of patients and 19.4% of persons from control group). High-risk human papillomaviruses were detected in 52.78% of laryngeal papillomatosis cases and in 9.26% of control cases. Risk factors were noted statistically significantly more often in human papillomaviruses positive cases.

Conclusions. The prevalence of human papillomaviruses infection in the upper respiratory tract of patients with laryngeal papillomatosis is high; human papillomaviruses 6, 11 types are predominant. High-risk human papillomaviruses were noted statistically significantly more often in the group of patients with laryngeal papillomatosis. Inclination to diseases of respiratory system, dental caries, smoking, low living standard are statistically significantly related to human papillomaviruses persistence in the upper respiratory tract.

Received 28 March 2002, accepted 4 April 2002