Diseases associated with human papillomavirus infection

- HPV infections in external skin, covering warts of hands, face and feet, EV and malignant conversion.
- HPV in mucosal skin, covering external genital warts, anogenital pre-cancers and cancers.
- Oral HPV, including oral papillomas and HPV associated oral cancers.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are ubiquitous, well adapted to their host and cleverly sequestered away from immune responses. HPV infections can be productive, subclinical or latent in both skin and mucosa. The causal association of HPV with cervical cancer, and increasingly with rising numbers of squamous cell carcinomas at other sites in both men and women, is increasingly recognised, while the morbidity of cutaneous HPV lesions, particularly in the immunosuppressed population is also significant. This chapter sets out the range of infections and clinical manifestations of the consequences of infection and its persistence and describes why HPVs are both highly effective pathogens and carcinogens, challenging to eliminate.