Human papillomaviruses were detected by an in vitro enzymatic DNA amplification method in cells obtained from vulvar swabs of 9 of 61 (14.8 %) young women without prior experience of sexual intercourse and in 7 of 57 (12.3 %) young women with prior experience. The prevalence of human papillomavirus DNA in these two groups of women was not significantly different (x²=0.16, p>0.5; 95 % confidence interval –0.165 to 0.215). These results suggest that genital human papillomavirus is not sexually transmitted in all cases and that it may be acquired by modes other than sexual contact.