FIGURE 2.

Various routes and sites of HPV transmission. HPV is a sexually transmitted infection that can be received through horizontal transmission (heterosexual intercourse, anogenital, and oro-genital) and in some rare cases through various fomites, and inoculation via fingers, clothes, utensils, towels, and surgical instruments. (A) Vertical transmission (perinatal transmission: mother to baby) and oral–oral transmission of HPV could be the main source of nonsexual transmission of HPV in oral sites. (C) Most prevalent high-risk and low-risk HPV types reported in benign and malignant lesions of the HN region are depicted with representative figures where the relative frequency of the each type is indicated with corresponding sizes. (B) [Disclaimer: Pictures used to make composite diagram and to represent HPV types are derived from different internet sources and does not claim to be the original representation of the indicated HPV type] (Sarkola et al., 2008; Chaturvedi et al., 2015; Fu et al., 2015; Visalli et al., 2016; Louvanto et al., 2017; Sabeena et al., 2017; Syrjanen, 2018; Houlihan et al., 2019).