Kaye J N, Cason J, Pakarian F B, Jewers R J, Kell B, Bible J, Raju K S, Best J M
Department of Virology, Richard Dimbleby Laboratory of Cancer Virology, United Medical School of Guys', London, United Kingdom.
J Med Virol. 1994 Dec;44(4):415-21. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890440419.
Whilst genital papillomaviruses are commonly believed to be sexually transmitted, transmission of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) from mother to child at delivery has been described previously [Pakarian et al. (in press) British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology]. In order to determine whether viral load in cervical/vaginal cells was an important determinant of transmission 15 pregnant women with HPV-16 infections were studied. Eight of these women had infants who were positive for HPV-16 DNA at genital and/or buccal sites. Viral load was estimated by laser densitometry of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. The eight mothers--four with a previous history of abnormal smears and two with previous genital warts--who transmitted infection to their infants had significantly higher viral loads (P < 0.05) than those who did not. It is concluded that viral load is an important, but not the sole, determinant for the transmission of HPV-16 from mother to infant.
