Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is commonly recognized as the first cause of cervical cancer in women as well as other diseases in men and women (Garnock-Jones and Giuliano 2011). About 97 % of cervical cancers take its origin by a sexually transmitted viral infection that subsequently evolved to cancer transformation through the persistence of HPV into the cervical mucosa for long periods of time (till 20–30 years) (Tay 2012). Viral transmission normally occurs through sexual intercourse with commonly recognized infection distribution from man to woman or man to man where man is often considered as a disease healthy bearer. The viral passage from woman to man has been demonstrated and clarified in clinical practice only in the cases of anogenital warts in the sexual partner. In all these cases man represents the vector of HPV infection to sexual partners but he is rarely considered as a potential final target. HPV-related cancers in men are in fact found among selected people considered at risk for infection such as immunodeficiency patients (due to viruses such as HIV/AIDS or other non-viral causes) and/or homosexuals, overall in developed countries (Giuliano et al. 2007). About 32,000 cases of new cancers in men and women attributable to HPV infection such as cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, oral cavity, head or neck and canal anal, were found in the USA in 2009 (American Cancer Society 2009). HPV types that infect the genital area are categorized in “high-risk” HPV (HR-HPV) and “low-risk” HPV (LR-HPV), and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer recognizes at least thirteen different types of HR-HPV. Types 16 and 18 are frequently associated with more than 70 % of cervical cancers worldwide, while types 6 and 11 are frequently involved in the majority of cases of anogenital warts (Albrow et al. 2012; Nyitray et al. 2010). The same genotypes responsible for anogenital cancers are often involved in the genesis of head and neck cancers (de Pokomandy et al. 2009). Genital infection is often asymptomatic in both genders although the evidence of sexual warts could be easily found in men than in women. In other rare cases the presence of plain condylomata has been identified through the preventive use of acetic acid solution (Wright 2003). On the other hand, periodical Pap test and subsequent HPV test investigations allow to exert cancer screening visits in women thus reducing the risk of developing cervical cancers and monitoring couples with stable sexual partners. The frequency of HPV infection in various groups of male subjects was analysed in a systematic review of the literature, which included 40 papers published from 1999 to 2006 (Giuliano et al. 2007). The prevalence of HPV in men ranged from 1.3 to 72.9 %, and it is at least 20 in 56 % of the analysed studies (Giuliano et al. 2010). Another review article by Partridge et al. describes a prevalence of HR-HPV infection ranging from 2.3 to 34.8 % of heterosexual males: in these subjects HPV infection has been found also in the anal area with a prevalence of 4.3–15 % independently from their heterosexual condition (Partridge and Koutsky 2006).