ABSTRACT

To investigate the prevalence of tonsillar human papillomavirus infection in İstanbul, the most populous city of Turkey.

Tonsil specimens were obtained from 206 cadavers aged 18 to 89 years. Tonsillectomy was performed during routine autopsy for each subject in the 24 hours after death. After dissolution, tissues were processed with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to identify HPV DNA. The data obtained from the DNA sequencer were processed in the database of GenBank®.

One hundred sixty-six (80.6%) male and 40 (19.4%) female cadavers were included in the study. One case demonstrated HPV-16, one had HPV-82, one had HPV-55 and one had HPV-13. All four cases were male. Prevalence of tonsillar HPV was 1.94% and of HPV 16 was 0.48%.

The prevalence of tonsillar HPV infection was found 1.94% and of HPV 16 0.48% in our study.

Keywords: Human papilloma virus, HPV, oropharynx, palatine tonsil