Introduction HR-HPV infection is one of the most often diagnosed viral STIs and has been linked to some anogenital malignances. HPV vaccines have not yet widely been approved for men, representing an important source of HPV transmission between sex partners. The earliest detection plays a crucial role in decreasing of a number of HR-HPV-infected (wo)men and some screening programs may be helpful. In Russia reliable figures regarding HR-HPV prevalence remain highly limited. This primarily results from the lack of any internationally valuable screening program on HR-HPV infections among both general population and high-risk groups. This information is important for not only epidemiological purposes and transmission studies but also has a great clinical impact. We investigated the concordance of HR-HPV infection detected in different lab settings across St. Petersburg as compared to the results obtained in Amsterdam to start the first screening program.

Material and Methods In parallel penile (G) and urethral (U) swabs, and expressed prostate secret (EPS) were collected in 134 enrolled in the study on heterosexual men with no STIs tested. The presence of HR-HPV DNA in the penile, urethral swabs and EPS samples was investigated in five commercial clinics/labs in St. Petersburg by two most common in the country diagnostic kits (local manufactures) and in Amsterdam (VU University) by the validated worldwide used GP5+/6+ assay, respectively.

Results The results are presented in the Abstract P3-S4.01 table 1. HPV prevalence in the study group was relatively high: up to 30% (RT-PCR). In house RT-PCR assays used in St. Petersburg five labs showed low similarity and detected less HR-HPV types in urogenital samples as compared to the setting in Amsterdam (p<0.0001).

Discussion Our study showed: (1) HPV prevalence among the Russian population can be high and (2) more anatomical sites in males can be screened: we are the first to report of HPV distribution in three anatomical sites, including EPS. (3) Suboptimal HR-HPV diagnostics observed between techniques used in the study settings St. Petersburg as compared to GP5+GP6+. There is an urgent call for the internationally valuable HPV screening and detection programs in Russia. At the moment we additionally: (1) extent the study group, (2) include females and (3) investigate the concordance between HPV typing in the labs.