men can also get HPV?

The virus known for causing cervical cancer in women also turns up in men and can go on unnoticed for months or even years, researchers states in Lancet.

There are many different types of HPV and more than 40 that can be transmitted sexually. vaccines, Merck’s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix, protect against cancer-causing HPV and both vaccines are recommended for young women. Gardasil is also recommended for boys up to age 18 and its protection extends to two additional types of HPV that cause genital warts in males and females.

In 2005, Giuliano of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and an international team of researchers got together more than 4,000 men living in Brazil, Mexico and Florida into a study of HPV. The average age was 32 and none had been vaccinated against HPV. Swabs of the penis and genital area of each man revealed that 50 percent were infected with at least one HPV type upon enrollment.

The researchers repeated these exams every six months, and the men completed personal-history questionnaires. Over a median of 28 months, the group acquired 1,572 new HPV infections.

The human immune system can clear HPV out of the body, and the men wiped out most of their new infections during the study period. But it took a median 7.5 months. Median clearance times didn’t vary substantially among the countries, but did vary between HPV types. Some cases lingered as long as 24 months in the men.

The data also states that men who reports having 10 or more sexual partners in their lifetimes had roughly twice as many HPV infections as did men who had had one partner.

Giuliano says many insurance programs cover HPV vaccination in boys up to age 18.

“HPV vaccination in men will protect not only them but will also have implications for their sexual partners”

Posted by Cleopatra Duque