Perinatal transmission of human papillomavirus (HPV). PCR analysis of 164 pregnancies.

We searched, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), for the presence of HPV DNA in a series of 164 mothers and of their newborn babies, to evaluate the risk of perinatal transmission of the infection. In the mothers (all with negative PAP smear and without genital warts) the identification of HPV DNA was performed on cervico-vaginal lavage and in neonates on oropharyngeal aspirates. The test was repeated on an oral swab five weeks after birth in all infants born from HPV-positive mothers. HPV infection was identified in 19 (11.6%) mothers and in 6 (3.6%) neonates. The frequency of perinatal vertical transmission, from HPV positive mothers to their neonates, was 31.6% (6/19). At five weeks after birth all the oral samples from the 19 infants born from HPV positive mothers were negative. We could conclude that in the case of HPV-positive but clinically silent pregnant women, the presence of HPV DNA in oropharingeal aspirate from their babies is probably to be considered a contamination, devoid of any pathological implication.