More Than Half of Men May Be Infected With HPV, Study Finds

About 50 percent of men in the general population may unknowingly be infected with the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical and other cancers, researchers say.

Researchers at the H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa recruited men ranging in age from 18 to 70 living in Brazil,Rift Gold Mexico and the United States who were HIV negative and had no history of cancer. Experts assessed participants every six months for a little more than two years to monitor the progression of HPV infection in men.

Scientists found that HPV infection was associated with having a high number of lifetime female or male sexual partners and the effectiveness of treatment of the infection decreased in men with a considerable number of partners. In addition to being the No.RIFT Platinum 1 cause of cervical cancer in women, HPV has also been linked to head, neck, throat, mouth, anal and penile cancer in men.

The median duration of HPV infection was around 7.5 months for any HPV virus and a little more than a year for those with HPV 16.

U.S. vaccine advisers have already recommended HPV vaccines for girls and young women, rift goldbut now experts are trying to decide if boys and men should be vaccinated as well.

"The greater the proportion of the population that is vaccinated, both males and females, the greater the total reduction in infection in the community," Dr. Anna Giuliano, study author and chairwoman of the Department of Cancer Epidemiology at the Moffitt Cancer Center, told AOL Health. "Communities with higher proportions of vaccinated individuals will experience more dramatic and faster declines in both infection and diseases caused by HPV infections."

But some worry the vaccine is too costly to justify its use in men and that it may not make a difference in infection rates. RIFT Platinum"We can't say for certain if vaccinating males will decrease HPV infections in female partners," Dr. Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecological cancers at the American Cancer Society, told AOL Health.

Mathematical modeling information from the American Cancer Society indicates that if vaccine coverage is high, vaccination of males in addition to females will offer little added benefit in preventing HPV-related cervical disease.

Unlike the HIV virus, which is transmitted through semen, the HPV virus is transferred through skin-to-skin contact. In addition, HPV is very common and is easily transmissible.

"If the girls were already vaccinated, it wouldn't matter if the men [were] vaccinated or not,"TERA Gold says Saslow, who referenced an Australian study showing a decrease in HPV when 90 percent of females and no males had been vaccinated.

"Each year more women are being vaccinated for the virus," says Saslow. "We've seen the numbers go up, but we don't know how high they'll go."

Saslow says one of the big drivers to determine male HPV vaccination recommendations depends on the vaccination rates of females and if those rates are effectively preventing cervical and other cancers. According to Saslow, there are more than 100 different types of HPV but only 15 of them can cause genital cancers.