Occurrence of HPV genomes in penile smears of healthy men.

Penile smears of 530 males without any clinically detectable genital papillomavirus infection were subjected to molecular in situ hybridization on filters with different 32P-labeled HPV-DNAs. HPV genomes were identified in 31 cases (5.8%). Eight smears reacted with HPV 6/HPV 11 DNA and 5 specimens with HPV 16 and HPV 18 DNA exclusively; in 18 cases HPV 6/HPV 11 and HPV 16/HPV 18 were found in coexistence. With regard to the different age groups, HPV-DNA was found in only 1.7% of smears obtained from persons over 35 years of age, while 7.9% of the samples from men aged 15 to 35 gave positive results. This age distribution indicates that the occurrence of HPV genomes in epithelial cells of the glans may be due to infections by sexual contact rather than to reactivation of persisting viruses.