Undiagnosed Maternal HPV Infection Causing Postnatal Recurrent Laryngeal Papillomatosis

Although anogenital warts are the most common clinical manifestation of HPV infection, majority of infected individuals have subclinical disease which is important for transmission of infection. When such a transmission is seen in perinatal period, laryngeal papillomatosis may be seen during childhood. Affected infant may suffer from complications despite a quite bothersome treatment course. Therefore, transmission should be prevented if possible. Cesarean delivery may protect against transmission, but it is not routinely recommended in the presence of maternal genital warts. Gynecologic evaluation of all pregnant women to document genital infections is much more important. In cases with genital warts, follow- up should be performed more closely in order to make a decision of whether medical or surgical treatment of warts or cesarean delivery is needed. Also, the infant should be examined periodically after the delivery for the early detection of laryngeal papillomatosis. Here, a woman with undiagnosed genital HPV infection who transmitted infection to her infant is reported. Infection of infant caused recurrent laryngeal papillomatosis which necessitated repeated surgical procedures.