Human Papillomavirus Infection and Fertility Alteration: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: HPV is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection and its effect in cancer induction is well documented. HPV infections are mostly asymptomatic, but it is unclear whether HPV infections can result in alterations of reproductive health. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between human papillomavirus infections and reproductive health in both men and women. METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed in PubMed and ScienceDirect data bases from January 1994 through August 2014. RESULTS: HPV infections are shown to be significantly associated to many adverse effects in the reproductive function. These adverse effects were reported in different levels from cells production to pregnancy and may be related to the infecting genotype. CONCLUSIONS: It appears from this study that HPV detection and genotyping could be of great value in infertility diagnosis at least in idiopathic infertility cases. Like for the risk of carcinogenesis, another classification of HPV regarding the risk of fertility alteration may be considered after deep investigations.