Infants, children acquire oral human papillomavirus, probably from mother: CDC

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-02-17T08:28:56+05:30 | Updated On 17 Feb 2021 12:18 PM IST

Finland: Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infections has been detected in infants and young children, reveals a recent study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases -- a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results indicate that HPV infection can be acquired nonsexually and is already common at an early age.

According to the study, mother is the most likely source of first HPV infection in her child. HPV status of the mother majorly impacts the outcome of oral HPV persistence for her offspring.

Stina Syrjänen, University of Turku, Turku, Finland, and colleagues examined oral samples from 331 children in Finland who were the participants of the Finnish Family HPV Study from birth during 9 follow-up visits (mean time 51.9 months). The samples were tested for 24 HPV genotypes.

Key findings of the study include:

Oral HPV prevalence for children varied from 8.7% (at a 36-month visit) to 22.8% (at birth), and 18 HPV genotypes were identified.
HPV16 was the most prevalent type to persist, followed by HPV18, HPV33, and HPV6.
Persistent, oral, high-risk HPV infection for children was associated with oral HPV carriage of the mother at birth and seroconversion of the mother to high-risk HPV during follow-up.

"Children acquire their first oral HPV infection at an early age. The HPV status of the mother has a major impact on the outcome of oral HPV persistence for her offspring," wrote the authors.

"These results have several major implications in HPV vaccination programs. If a subgroup of children can acquire a persistent HPV infection, the timing of prophylactic HPV vaccination is imperative. Maternal HPV antibodies, irrespective of whether they are acquired by natural HPV infection or vaccination, might protect the fetus, newborn, and young child against early HPV infection," they concluded.

The study titled, "Oral Human Papillomavirus Infection in Children during the First 6 Years of Life, Finland," is published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

DOI: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/3/20-2721_article

Emerging Infectious DiseasesHPV infectionhuman papillomavirus

Source : Emerging Infectious Diseases

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751