Human Papillomavirus: Implications for Clinical Medicine

Excerpt

In the past 6 years nucleic acid hybridization analysis has helped define more than 45 distinct types of human papillomaviruses. The classification of viral types is based on the viral DNA sequence composition (genotype), rather than on viral structural antigenic features (serotype). A human papillomavirus genome is considered to represent a new viral type if its DNA sequence has less than 50% homology with the genomes of all other defined human papillomavirus types. Twelve of the more than 45 virus types have been found to be associated with anogenital tract lesions.

Due to intrinsic problems encountered when studying papillomaviruses, basic