Burden and prevention of HPV related diseases: Situation in Croatia

The role of persistent infection of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) in cervical cancer has become convincingly established. Other anogenital cancers in women and men are also caused, to a lesser extent, by HR-HPV. In addition, most of the benign anogenital warts and laryngeal papillomatosis are caused by low-risk (LR) HPV types. All these HPV-associated diseases represent high public health burden worldwide, cervical cancer being the leading one. Nowadays, several opportunities are available to prevent cervical cancer and otherHPV-related diseases. The most promising cancer preventing intervention is the HPV vaccination against the most common HPV types (16 and 18). However, secondary prevention like education and early detection of the disease by screening has demonstrated in the past great efficacy and should be continued and improved by novel prognostic methods (HPV testing and other biomarkers) in countries where it is already in place, and implemented in those countries that lack cancer control programmes. Herein, the current knowledge onHPVs, HPV-related diseases and their preventive approaches are discussed. In addition, the situation in Croatia is presented