Carriage of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in male subjects in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a public health problem in Africa because of its frequency and its various consequences in both men and women. In Burkina Faso, there is little data on the carriage of HPV infection in male subjects. This study aimed to determine the carriage of HPV infection in male subjects in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted from December 2015 to September 2016. During this study period, a total of 124 male subjects who gave informed consent were recruited as part of a fertility assessment. Semen samples were analyzed by Real- Time PCR using Real TM Quant High Risk Screen HPV kit to detect 14 high-risk HPV genotypes. The Chi square test was used for comparisons. Results Of the 124 male subjects, 22 were positive for at least one high-risk HPV, with a prevalence of 17.7%. HPV 56 was the most represented genotype with a frequency of 20%, followed by HPV 39 (11%) and HPV 68 (11%), HPV 16 (8%). The genotypes HPV 18, HPV33, HPV35, HPV51 and HPV52 also had the same frequency of 6% each and the HPV 31, 45, 59 and 66 had the same frequency of 3% each. Of the 22 positive cases, 10 were multiple infections. Spermocytogram of patients showed at least one abnormality in 87.9% of cases. Necrozoospermia and oligozoospermia were the most abnormalities observed with 42% and 40% respectively followed by asthenospermia (18%); teratozoospermia (16%) and azoospermia (14%). Conclusion This study showed that like women, men are infected by HPV with a relatively high prevalence. In addition, the predominant genotypes in the male subjects of this study are not those targeted by the HPV vaccines available in our countries. Hence the need to reinforce the strategies for controlling HPV infection and HPV prophylactic vaccination for young boys. Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common cause of viral infection of the reproductive tract and causes a wide range of conditions in women as men, including precancerous lesions that may progress to cancer [1]. Persistent oncogenic HPV infections have been reported in most cases of cervical cancer and HPV is increasingly associated with penile tumors in humans and in certain anal, cerebral and cervical tumors [2, 3]. More than 200 types of HPV exist and are divided into 2 groups according to their oncogenic potential: high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) [4]. HPV 16 and 18 are the most important genotypes of HR-HPV causing cancer worldwide [3, 5] and are implicated in penile cancer and cancer cervix. Especially, HPV 16 is familiar in brain and neck cancers [2]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), genital HPV infections among men in sub-Saharan Africa have a prevalence of any type, at least 19.1% [6]. Men are considered to be carriers, therefore reservoir and act as transmitters of the virus. Several authors detected HPV DNA in samples from human internal organs such as vasectomy vas deferens, epididymis from non-tuberculous epididymectomy, testicular biopsy of infertile subjects or from specimens from anogenital external organs often combined with urine and sperm which are readily available samples [7–9]. In addition, it is recognized that HPV DNA in urine and sperm positively reflect the presence of HPV in the " internal " reservoirs [10]. Studies have reported that HPV infection affects fertility parameters in humans [11, 12]. In Burkina Faso, previous studies have been carried out in women and reported the frequency of other high-risk HPV genotypes outside genotypes 16 and 18 [13–17]. Since HPV infection is a sexually transmitted infection, it is not surprising that some genotypes are found in both women and men. In order to obtain data on HPV infection in humans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, this study proposes to search for HPV in males visiting a laboratory in Ouagadougou for sperm analysis in the context of a fertility screening.