Possible non-sexual transmission of genital human papillomavirus infections in young women

Human papillomaviruses were detected by an in vitro enzymatic DNA amplification method in cells obtained from vulvar swabs of 9 of 61 (14.8 %) young women without prior experience of sexual intercourse and in 7 of 57 (12.3 %) young women with prior experience. The prevalence of human papillomavirus DNA in these two groups of women was not significantly different (x²=0.16, p>0.5; 95 % confidence interval -0.165 to 0.215). These results suggest that genital human papillomavirus is not sexually transmitted in all cases and that it may be acquired by modes other than sexual contact.