RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and oropharyngeal HPV in ethnically diverse, sexually active adolescents: community-based cross-sectional study JF Sexually Transmitted Infections JO Sex Transm Infect FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP 458 OP 460 DO 10.1136/sextrans-2020-054428 VO 97 IS 6 A1 Sarah Kerry-Barnard A1 Simon Beddows A1 Fiona Reid A1 Nicholas Beckley-Hoelscher A1 Kate Soldan A1 Kavita Panwar A1 Cangul Seran A1 Charlotte Fleming A1 Agata Lesniewska A1 Tim Planche A1 Jonathan Williamson A1 Phillip Hay A1 Pippa Oakeshott YR 2021 UL http://sti.bmj.com/content/97/6/458.abstract AB Objectives Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is the most common human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer in the UK, but little is known about the prevalence of oropharyngeal HPV in sexually active teenagers. We investigated reported HPV vaccination coverage (in females) and prevalence of oropharyngeal HPV in sexually active students attending six technical colleges in London, UK.Methods In 2017, we obtained mouthwash samples and questionnaires from male and female students taking part in the ‘Test n Treat’ chlamydia screening trial. Samples were subjected to HPV genotyping.Results Of 232 participants approached, 202 (87%) provided a mouthwash sample and questionnaire. Participants’ median age was 17 years and 47% were male. Most (73%) were from black and minority ethnic groups, 64% gave a history of oral sex, 52% reported having a new sexual partner in the past 6 months, 33% smoked cigarettes, 5.9% had concurrent genitourinary Chlamydia trachomatis infection and 1.5% Neisseria gonorrhoeae and 5.0% were gay or bisexual. Only 47% (50/107) of females reported being vaccinated against HPV 16/18, of whom 74% had received ≥2 injections. HPV genotyping showed three mouthwash samples (1.5%, 95% CI 0.3% to 4.3%) were positive for possible high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV), one (0.5%, 0.0% to 2.7%) for low-risk HPV 6/11, but none (0.0%, 0.0% to 1.8%) for HR-HPV. Four samples (2.0%, 0.5% to 5.0%) were positive for HPV16 using a HPV16 type-specific quantitative PCR, but these were at a very low copy number and considered essentially negative.Conclusions Despite the high prevalence of oral sex and genitourinary chlamydia and low prevalence of HPV vaccination, the prevalence of oropharyngeal HR-HPV in these adolescents was negligible.All data relevant to the study are included in the article.