Occult human papillomavirus infection of the uterine cervix in postmenopausal women.

Occult infection is assumed when human papillomavirus is detected in the absence of unequivocal cytologic or histologic changes. In this study occult human papillomavirus infection in postmenopausal women was examined to determine if the histologic findings with such infections were indeed nondiagnostic and to compare the rate of occult human papillomavirus infection in this group with that in a younger age group. In five of 43 cases (12%) sequences homologous to human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid were detected in biopsy specimens from the cervices of hysterectomy specimens of postmenopausal women who had no history of abnormal Papanicolaou smears or genital tract neoplasms. This rate was not significantly different from that found in a premenopausal group of women (8%, n = 60) studied concurrently. Except for one case in which human papillomavirus type 11 was detected, the human papillomavirus types in the occult infections were distinct from those commonly associated with the genital tract. The histologic features of human papillomavirus infection were not found in the human papillomavirus-positive cases, except for one case of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. The similar rates of occult infection in the two age groups suggests that about 10% of women over a wide range of ages may be infected by human papillomavirus but have no clinical or pathologic evidence of the infection.