Cutaneous verruca with genital human papillomavirus in a 2-year-old girl

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiologic agent of warts and condyloma acuminatum (CDA). Condyloma acuminatium is believed to result from sexual transmission of HPV types 6 and 11 in adults. In contrast, nonsexual transmission of CDA occurs frequently between children and caregivers. Nonsexual-CDA are present almost exclusively in the mucosal epithelium in children. The authors analyzed a rapidly growing cutaneous wart on the thigh of a two-year-old girl for the presence of oncogenic and nononcogenic HPV types by in situ hybridization. This cutaneous wart was found to have the HPV types commonly found in CDA, namely types 6 and/or 11. This is an unusual finding and suggests that verruca vulgaris may result from papillomaviruses other than HPV 2 in children.