Abstract
Papillomaviruses are a diverse, epitheliotropic group of viruses. Some genotypes are the main cause of anogenital cancer in humans; others can induce skin lesions. In order to investigate the occurrence of subclinical skin infections with human papillomavirus (HPV), a pair of degenerate primers (FAP59/64) was designed. Moist cotton-tipped swabs were used as a gentle method of sample collection. Different skin sites were tried for sampling, and healthy and immunosuppressed adults and children of different age groups, new-borns included, were enrolled. Skin samples were also collected from healthy individuals from five countries in three different continents. All samples were tested for the presence of HPV DNA by PCR, and the positive samples were HPV type-determined by cloning and DNA sequencing. HPV DNA was found with high prevalence in both immunosuppressed (94%) and healthy (82%) individuals. The prevalence of HPV DNA was highest in samples collected from the more sun-exposed forehead, compared to legs and arms. The same high HPV prevalence was also seen in samples collected from different parts of the world. The study of children revealed that HPV colonisation of normal skin occurs very early in life and that acquisition of subclinical HPV infections probably starts soon after birth. Skin papillomaviruses could also be detected in a number of animal species. Altogether, a great number of different genotypes were found, 148 of which have been described for the first time. Papillomaviruses were found to be skin commensals with an impressive diversity of genotypes, both in humans and animals.
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor |
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| Award date | 2002 Nov 8 |
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| ISBN (Print) | 91-628-5408-9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Bibliographical note
Defence detailsDate: 2002-11-08
Time: 10:15
Place: Entrance 78, University hospital Malmö
External reviewer(s)
Name: Evander, Magnus
Title: Associate professor
Affiliation: Department of Virology, Umeå University
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Article: I. Forslund O., Antonsson A., Nordin P., Stenquist B. and Hansson B.G. 1999.A broad range of human papillomavirus types detected with a general PCR method suitable for analysis of cutaneous tumours and normal skin. J Gen Virol 80:2437-2443.
Article: II. Antonsson A., Forslund O., Ekberg H., Sterner G. and Hansson B.G. 2000.The ubiquity and impressive genomic diversity of human skin papillomaviruses suggest a commensalic nature of these viruses. J Virol 74:11636-11641.
Article: III. Antonsson A., Karanfilovska S., Lindqvist P. G., and Hansson B.G. 2002.General acquisition of human skin papillomavirus infections occurs in early infancy. Submitted for publication.
Article: IV. Antonsson A., Erfurt C., Hazard K., Holmgren V., Simon M., Kataoka A., Hossein S., Håkangård C. and Hansson B.G. 2002.Prevalence and type spectrum of human papillomaviruses in normal skin samples collected from three continents. Submitted for publication.
Article: V. Antonsson A. and Hansson B.G. 2002.Many animal species harbor papillomaviruses in normal skin which are closely related to their human counterparts. Accepted for publication in J Virol.
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Microbiology in the medical area
Free keywords
- Microbiology
- bacteriology
- virology
- mycology
- Mikrobiologi
- bakteriologi
- virologi
- mykologi
- skin phylogeny
- HPV prevalence
- HPV type detrmination
- PCR
- human papillomavirus
- HPV
