Abstract Infection with human papillomaviruses (HPVs) can cause warts on cutaneous epithelium, while in the anogenital region these viruses can cause both genital warts and various forms of cancer in men and women. The main interest in HPV relates to its causative role in cervical cancer. Most HPV infections in young women resolve spontaneously, most frequently within a 24-month period. Identification of HPV genotypes would require the use of type-specific probes in multiple in situ hybridization experiments. Alternatively, HPV-DNA can be directly isolated from clinical samples and detected by Southern blot or dot spot hybridization. However, such approaches are insensitive, labor intensive and unsuitable for high through put screening. Therefore, nucleic acid amplification methods have been developed to increase the sensitivity as well as the specificity of HPV-DNA detection.