Human papillomaviruses are associated with various cutaneous or mucosal
benign and malignant neoplasms. The majority of available data on routine HPV
diagnostics has been focused on evaluating the cervix. There is limited data on the
efficiency of HPV diagnostics in cutaneous lesions. The balance between analytical
and clinical sensitivity is critical for the specificity of a routine HPV test. Furthermore,
HPV16 and HPV18 confer a higher risk for the development of a cervical
intraepithelial lesion 2+ compared to the other HPV high-risk types. Thus, it is suitable
to detect these HPV types individually. Up till now, HPV diagnosis has been mainly
based on DNA detection using available amplification methods. PCR techniques could
be used as type-specific or consensus PCRs. Among the methods, the Hybrid Capture 2
test has become the gold standard in routine HPV testing due to its high clinical
sensitivity and its relatively high specificity. Briefly, three tests have received FDA
approval including CervistaTM, signal amplification; CobasTM HPV test, real-time
PCR; APTIMATM HPV, RNA test. On the other hand, the broad cytology-based
screening programs have reduced the incidence of cervical cancer by 70% in the
developed world. However, more than 270,000 annual cervical cancer-related deaths
occur in developing countries due to their inability to improve a high-quality cytologybased
screening program. In this chapter, different diagnosis and screening methods of
HPV infections are evaluated in women worldwide.
Keywords: Diagnosis, HPV infection, HPV test, Screening.
