Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of cervical cancer. Human Papillomavirus Infections in Dermatovenereology pulls together the diverse disciplines of clinical, molecular biological, socio epidemiological, and immunological research to bridge the gap between the clinical aspects and basic biology of HPV. This volume provides a much-needed overview of the scientific and clinical data of HPV and HPV-associated diseases, exploring opinions on current therapies and diagnostic methods. It critically reviews the most frequently used molecular biologic methods, evaluating their potential in HPV detection. Specialists in dermatology, genitourinary medicine, gynecology, urology, as well as pathologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, and virologists will appreciate this timely examination of the ubiquitous pathogen, HPV.

In recent years, papillomaviruses in general and human papillo maviruses in particular have been recognized as possible agents of important diseases, including some forms of human cancer. The purpose of this book is to present a concise panorama of the pre sent status of knowledge of this topic. This knowledge is as impor tant to molecular biologists and virologists as it is to clinicians and pathologists. To bridge the gap among these diverse groups of investigators, we conceived of a book covering a broad spectrum of the basic scientific, clinical, and pathological aspects of diseases associated with papillomaviruses. Although the principal thrust of this book is directed at human papillomaviruses, fundamental knowledge of animal viruses is essential to the current understand ing of the molecular mechanisms of cell transformation. For this reason, a chapter on animal viruses has also been included. Some of the experimental work having to do with the elucidation of transformation and other aspects of interaction between the virus and the cell cannot be based on human papillomaviruses because of a lack of suitable experimental models. Hence, some of the chapters dealing with fundamental aspects of viral molecular biol ogy are based on animal models. We were very fortunate in having persuaded a number of distin guished colleagues to contribute to this work."