Background: Although an increased prevalence of plantar verrucae has been associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, human papillomavirus (HPV) typing studies have not been published about this patient population. We sought to determine the prevalence of HPV types in plantar verrucae of HIV-positive (HIV+) and HIV-negative (HIV-) individuals.
Methods: Thirty-nine plantar verruca lesions in 17 individuals were examined. Nine participants were HIV+ and eight were HIV-. Detection of HPV was performed by polymerase chain reaction using two sets of primers: MY09/MY11. The type of HPV was determined by hybridization to 38 different HPV types. Clinical types of verrucae were correlated to the HPV strain identified in each lesion.
Results: Of the 39 plantar verruca samples, 38 typed to HPV-2, HPV-27, and HPV-57 strains in HIV+ and HIV- individuals. Specifically, a large proportion of the samples from HIV- individuals typed as HPV-27 (87.5%), and HPV-2 was the predominant type identified in HIV+ individuals (50%). No rare or atypical HPV types were found in either group. We identified HPV-2 and HPV-27 in 96% of verruca plantaris clinical type. Mosaic warts typed to HPV-27 and HPV-57, and 80% of punctate verrucae typed to HPV-57.
Conclusions: This study presents an increased prevalence of HPV-2, HPV-27, and HPV-57 in plantar verrucae in this study population and provides insight into the occurrence of these types in HIV+ and HIV- individuals.