Herpes simplex and human papilloma virus coinfections in oral mucosa of men—A 6‐year follow‐up study

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) establishes latency in neurons and recurrent infections in oral mucosa. This prospective study analyzes HSV prevalence in oral mucosal brush samples from men with known human papillomavirus (HPV) status. We hypothesized that HSV‐1‐infection could facilitate HPV persistence as a cofactor. This study was a part of the Finnish Family HPV study accomplished at the University of Turku/Turku University Hospital, Finland. A total of 139 men (mean age 28.6 ± 4.9 years) were enrolled at 36+‐weeks of their partner's pregnancy and thereafter followed‐up for 6 years. Altogether, 722 samples, extracted from oral brush samples collected at the enrollment timepoint (baseline) and at 2‐, 6‐, 12‐, 24‐, 36‐month, and 6 years, were available. HSV DNA was analyzed with quantitative PCR. HSV‐1 results were compared with the known HPV data. The prevalence of oral HSV‐1 shedding varied between 0‐7.2% (mean 2.8%) among the men. Mean copy numbers varied between 4 and 550 genome copies/sample. A total of 18 (12.9%) men were found HSV‐1‐positive at least once, two of them twice. Neither smoking nor oral sex was associated with the oral HSV‐1‐DNA finding. HPV/HSV‐1 co‐infection was found in 6 (4.3%) men, all of them having persistent HPV‐infection. In conclusion, HSV‐1 and its coinfection with HPV in oral mucosa was rare.