As recently as 1970 it was assumed that only one human papillomavirus (HPV) existed and that it was the cause of various warty lesions on different tissue sites. Today, however, 170 genotypes of the HPV have been described as well as isolation and characterisation of new HPV types is ongoing. In the last decades, shocking facts about HPV have been brought to daylight such as the facts that it is the main cause of cervical cancer, as well as causing many other malignant and benign lesions of the anogenital tract, aero-digestive tract and skin. This thesis mainly focuses on the associated diseases and primary prevention of the human papillomaviruses. From the associated diseases, the cervical cancer, condyloma acuminata and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis were chosen to be described in more details. The thesis ends by describing the available vaccines, the burden of the HPV infection worldwide as well as new developments.