ABSTRACT
Risk of acquiring genital papillomavirus infection (GPVI) covariates with early sexual debut, frequent partner changes, concurrent and previous other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and heavy smoking habits. An inverse relationship exists with consistent use of condoms (1). In Western countries, the incidence of patients self-attending for genital and anal warts is about 0.5% to 1% of sexually active 15-to 25-year olds (2,3). In sexually active males in their upper teens, the rate of warts detectable by magnification equipment ("penoscopy") is as high as 6% to 7% (1). The true prevalence, however, of virologically detectable GPVI among adolescents is in the upper range of 30% to 50% (4-6), and estimated lifetime risk is 80% (7). The fact that most lesions induced by oncogenic ("high-risk") human papilloma virus (HPV) types remain asymptomatic and undetectable by naked eye examination appears as a sociomedical paradox and an intriguing clinical dilemma.
