Eur J Pediatr (2011) 170:757–761 DOI 10.1007/s00431-010-1345-x ORIGINAL PAPER HPV genotypes in the oral cavity/oropharynx of children and adolescents: cross-sectional survey in Poland Julia Durzyńska & Joanna Pacholska-Bogalska & Maria Kaczmarek & Tomasz Hanć & Magdalena Durda & Magdalena Skrzypczak & Anna Goździcka-Józefiak Received: 27 July 2010 / Accepted: 3 November 2010 / Published online: 24 November 2010 # The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a very complex group of pathogenic viruses, with more than 80 types, causing human infection. Given the prevalence of HPV infection and its relationship with the development of cervical and many other cancers, HPV vaccine develop- ment has been a major public health initiative worldwide in the last decade. The aim of the presented study was to identify HPV DNA by MY-PCR in 4,150 school children and adolescents, aged 10–18 years in the Wielkopolska region, Poland. All individuals were asked to fill in extensive questionnaires; further normal, oral squamous cells were collected from each pupil. Cellular DNA was isolated and used as a MY-PCR template to estimate the incidence of HPV-active infection. Forty five subjects (1.08% of the sample) were carriers of oropharyngeal HPVs. HPV status and variables of interest, such as age, gender, socioeconomical status, and risk factors (smoking and sexual intercourse history, alcohol consumption) were J. Durzyńska (*) : J. Pacholska-Bogalska : A. Goździcka-Józefiak Department of Molecular Virology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 89, 61-614, Poznań, Poland e-mail: juliadur@amu.edu.pl M. Kaczmarek : T. Hanć : M. Durda : M. Skrzypczak Department of Human Biological Development, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 89, 61-614, Poznań, Poland J. Pacholska-Bogalska Department of Animal Physiology and Development, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 89, 61-614, Poznań, Poland not correlated. The presence of HPVs in the oral cavity was cumulated in several schools of the region. DNA sequencing of MY-PCR products revealed only four HPV genotypes. The most frequent genotype was HPV11 (38/45 HPV-positive cases), while other more rare genotypes were HPV6 (3/45), HPV12 (3/45), and HPV57 (1/45). Conclusion: Our findings presented herein, reveal a relatively low prevalance of oropharyngeal HPVs in Polish adolescents and fill an important gap in the knowledge of oral HPV infections of children above 10 years and adolescents. Keywords HPV infection . Oral cavity/oropharynx . Prevalence . Adolescents Introduction Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are small double-stranded DNA tumor viruses infecting oral mucosa and genital tracts; many HPV genotypes are found in both these localizations. HPVs responsible for benign epithelial hyper- proliferation are named “low-risk” types (HPV-LR), while HPVs associated with premalignant lesions and invasive squamous cell carcinoma are named “high-risk” types (HPV-HR) [5, 23]. In the head and neck, HPV infections may result in benign lesions of the oral cavity and larynx or in squamous cell carcinoma in the oropharynx [8]. HPVs are not only found in cancer tissues but also detected in normal oral mucosa of healthy individuals [15]. Although HPV infection is transmitted mainly by sexual contacts, it may also be transmitted by skin-to-skin contacts [18]. It has been proposed that HPV infection of normal skin is acquired very early in infancy [1]. Several modes of HPV transmission during birth were proposed by birth canal, transplacental infection or amniotic fluid [20]. In the oral