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Incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer are higher in Germany than in other Western European countries. Type‐specific human papillomavirus (HPV) distribution was investigated for the first time in Germany in an epidemiological study including 8,101 women. Women above the age of 30 years, self‐referring for cervical cancer screening, were enrolled in two study centers in Hannover (Northern Germany) and Tübingen (Southern Germany). Participants were screened by the Pap smear and the hybrid capture 2 (HC2) test using the high‐risk probe. All samples that were positive by the HC2 test were genotyped using the prototype PGMY09/11 PCR line blot assay. Most women in the study population had a negative Pap smear (96.7%). Prevalence of high‐risk type HPV detected by HC2 was 6.4% and prevalence of carcinogenic types detected by PGMY09/11 was 4.3%. Of the PGMY09/11 PCR‐positive women, 70.2% had a single infection, 28.1% had multiple infections and 1.7% remained uncharacterized. 32 different HPV types were detected using PGMY09/11 PCR. HPV 16, 31, 52, 51, 18, and 45 were the most common carcinogenic types in the study population. Among women with histologically confirmed high‐grade lesions HPV 16, 45, 58, 18, 31, 33, and 52 were the predominant types. These results provide valuable information for the management of HPV infections in Germany, both in terms of future strategies of screening and vaccination. J. Med. Virol. 79:616–625, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]