Tavakolian S, Goudarzi H, Hamid N, et al. - A number of risk factors, especially viral diseases, have been described to result in infertility. The Papillomaviridae and Herpesviridae have been provided much attention in viral infection investigations. Researchers herein obtained and washed 82 semen samples (37 teratospermia, 2 asthenozoospermia, 2 oligoasthenospermia, 1 oligospermia, 6 asthenoteratospermia and 34 normal semen samples); thereafter, they extracted the DNA from both freshly ejaculated spermatozoon and washed spermatozoa. In this study, HSV‐1 infection was identified in 1 normal and 5 abnormal semen samples (1 normal, 4 teratospermia and 1 oligoasthenospermia). In addition, 2 VZV‐positive samples were observed (both were teratozoospermia). Based on nested PCR, HPV positivity was recorded in 1 asthenozoospermia, 1 asthenoteratospermia, 3 teratospermia and 4 normal samples (including 8 HPV‐18 and 1 HPV‐33). No change in the prevalence of EBV, CMV, VZV, HSV‐1 and HSV‐2 was observed prior to and after washing. Possibly, sperm washing can aid in eliminating HPV infection from semen samples, however, there is necessity for further investigation because of the small number of samples.