Carriage of herpes simplex virus and human papillomavirus in oral mucosa is rare in young women: A long-term prospective follow-up.

BACKGROUND

Following the primary oral infection, herpes simplex virus (HSV) establishes latency in the ganglia of sensory neurons. Episodically induced by stress, HSV is able to cause recurrent infection at the primary infection site, accompanied by virus shedding. The oral shedding of HSV contributes to mother-child-transmission of HSV. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with oral malignancies, and its interaction with oral HSV should be studied further.

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the prevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2-infection in oral mucosal scrapings of women during and after pregnancy and to elucidate the prevalence of HPV and HSV-co-carriage in oral mucosa.

STUDY DESIGN

A longitudinal cohort study of 304 mothers in the Finnish Family HPV study followed-up for 6 years after pregnancy, with 7 serial samplings. Mothers' oral brush samples were analyzed with quantitative PCR for HSV-1 and -2 DNA and the findings were compared with their HPV DNA status.

RESULTS

Altogether, 2.2% of all 1873 collected epithelial brush samples were HSV-1 DNA positive, while none tested HSV-2 DNA positive. Of the 304 mothers, 11.8% were HSV-1 DNA positive at least once. Most of the women who tested HSV-1 DNA positive before delivery remained HSV-1 DNA positive also after pregnancy. HSV-1 positive women were almost invariably HPV-negative; only four (0.2%) samples were detected with HSV-HPV co-carriage.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first prospective follow-up study on oral HSV shedding and its association with coexistent HPV, analyzed in the same oral mucosal scrapings. HSV and HPV co-carriage is rare in oral mucosa of healthy young mothers.