I'd like to meet:
Anyone who wants to join the fight against HPV and stop the spread of this very nasty disease.
www.cervical-cancer-causes.com
www.cervical-cancer-causes.com
The following information was taken from the site "www.healthandhpv.com":
www.healthandhpv.com
Condoms and HPV:There is a lot of debate going on as to whether or not condoms offer any protection against HPV. I have heard from many patients whose doctors sent them on their way after diagnosing HPV with little to no advice except “use condoms.†I have also heard from an equal amount of people who were infected with HPV even though they used condoms. So do condoms really work against this virus? Here are some answers I have found in my research.
The National Institutes of Health’s Report on Condom Effectiveness did not find any epidemiologic evidence that using condoms reduced the risk of HPV infection. However, they do state “esults did suggest that condom use might afford some protection in reducing the risk of HPV-associated diseases, including warts in men and cervical neoplasia in women†(Condom Report ii par. 5). On their Primer on HPV page, NIH also advises: “Although using a condom is a good idea to prevent transmission of other infections or diseases, condoms may not protect sexual partners from genital HPV infections. HPV infections usually are not limited to the penis or the vagina. The infection can occur on the skin in the genital area, such as the scrotum, vulva, anus, or the skin between the anus and the genitalia - areas that are not protected with normal condom use. It is not known if transmission can occur when the virus levels are very low or undetectable†(A Primer on HPV par. 14).
The American Social Health Association’s HPV Myths and Misconceptions page also has a section regarding condom use and HPV. It explains that condoms are “likely to be less protective against STDs that spread through skin-to-skin contact, such as HPV and herpes. The reason is simply that condoms do not cover the entire genital area of either sex. They leave the vulva, anus, perineal area, base of the penis, and scrotum uncovered, and contact between these areas can transmit HPV†(Myths and Misconceptions #12).
The American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology goes one step further: “A female will be protected from getting HPV if her partner only has lesions on the penis in areas covered by the condom. However, lesions on the base of the penis and scrotum will not be covered by the condom, thereby exposing the partner's vulva. Neither will the male be protected by condom use when the partner's lesions are on the vulva. Additionally, condom use is only partially protective for the male when HPV lesions are on the cervix or in the vagina because vaginal discharge can bathe the base of the penis and the scrotum with HPV infected cells†(Medical FAQs on the Natural History of HPV par. 11).
As you can see, using condoms may help you lessen the symptoms of HPV, but you should not rely on them to keep you from being infected with the virus itself. This does not make them useless, however. Studies have also shown that in couples where both partners had the same type of high-risk HPV and also used condoms faithfully, the men actually had their HPV go away faster. (To read these studies click here and here.) This information is promising and it is great to try and take all the precautions possible to avoid infection. But again, you cannot expect not to be infected, because that isn’t realistic. Instead, both partners should be well informed about the HPV virus, and should make an educated decision together.
How HPV affects Men:I get a lot of questions from men whose partners have been diagnosed with HPV wanting to know how it will affect them. This page is to answer those questions.
First of all, if you have been having sex with a person who was diagnosed with HPV, you probably have the virus as well, even if you don’t see any symptoms. ASCCP advises: “When one partner has HPV lesions, it is most likely that the other partner shares the virus, although this is often impossible to prove†(Medical FAQs on the Natural History of HPV par. 6). You may never get symptoms at all. Most people don’t. “Anyone who has ever had sexual relations has a high chance of being exposed to this virus,†ASHA explains, “but only a small number of women, and even fewer men, infected with HPV develop lesions that are detected or need to be treated†(What Men Should Know par. 4). But if you are going to develop symptoms, they will vary depending on which type of HPV you have. There are about 30-some different strains of HPV that affect the genitalia, and these can be divided into 2 types: low-risk HPV and high-risk HPV.
Low-risk HPV is called low-risk because it does not lead to cancer. In fact, these types of HPV have only very rarely been found in cancer. Instead, low-risk HPV causes genital warts. It can also cause abnormal pap smears, but abnormalities caused by this type of HPV do not become malignant (see Merck’s About HPV: facts you need to know).
High-risk HPV, so named because it can lead to cancer if untreated, only rarely produces warts. Instead, it produces abnormal, or pre-cancerous, cells, most commonly on the cervix but also in other places, such as the vagina, vulva, anus, and rarely on the penis (see the American Social Health Association). High-risk HPV has also been found in some head and neck cancers (see this news article by the Oral Cancer Foundation and this article by the Medical Journal of Australia). High-risk HPV can come in different severities, for example: a woman might have an abnormal pap smear with low, mid, or high-grade high-risk HPV.
As a man, if your partner has low-risk HPV, you stand a chance of developing genital warts. The CDC states that at any given time, about 1% of sexually active men in the US have genital warts (HPV and Men par. 5). Also, according to NIAID, “About two-thirds of people who have sexual contact with a partner with genital warts will develop warts, usually within 3 months of contact†(Human Papillomavirus and Genital Warts par. 7). You could get warts anywhere in the genital area, including the anus, even if you have not had anal sex (HPV and Men par. 2). (Obviously if you are a gay man and have had anal sex, and your partner has low-risk HPV, you could develop anal warts.) Diagnosis and treatment of genital warts in a man would be quite similar to diagnosis and treatment in a woman.
If your partner has high-risk HPV, on the other hand, there are a few possible outcomes. The first, and by far most common, is that you become infected and simply do not show any visible symptoms. However, this does not mean that lesions aren’t there. According to AHRP, “most studies of women with cervical HPV disease indicate that approximately 64-70% of their partners will have HPV penile lesions. Most often, these are so small that neither partner is aware of their presence†(Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer par. 6). A study called “HPV Associated With Flat Lesions on Penis†by Will Boggs, MD had similar findings, but also notes that less than 1% of these lesions would become malignant, most going away on their own through immune response and condom use (Boggs par. 10). Despite these small lesions, the National Cancer Institute advises women: “If your health care provider finds you have HPV, your sex partner(s) should also get checked. They usually will have no symptoms†(Understanding Cervical Changes 3). Basically, as a man whose partner has high-risk HPV, you probably won’t notice anything out of the ordinary. You will not know that you have HPV, but you can still transmit the virus. Any new female partner you have would then be at risk for abnormal cells.
It is possible for men to develop abnormalities due to high-risk HPV. These include precancerous cells of the penis and of the anus. However, these types of complications are rare, and it is even more rare to actually develop cancer from them. The CDC notes that in the US, penile cancer only accounts for 0.2% of all cancers in men and is especially rare in men who are circumcised. The risk of anal cancer, while also rare, is 17 times higher among gay and bisexual men (HPV and Men par. 5). ASHA explains that this is why men who regularly have sex with men should speak to their healthcare providers about getting an anal pap smear (What Men Should Know par. 8).
If you would like more information on penile cancer risk factors and the role HPV plays in it, you may click on the following links:.
Risk Factors for Penile Cancer from the American Cancer Society.
A really big post about penile cancer on Google Men’s Health.
You can also find all the different types of cancer associated with high-risk HPV here.
Oral sex, it appears, may pose a risk for acquiring both low- and high-risk HPV types; however, this risk still seems very low (see my FAQ question regarding oral sex for more info).
Mostly, as a man, you will have to deal with 2 things: 1. genital warts (if your partner has low-risk HPV), and 2. being a carrier with no visible symptoms (if your partner has high-risk HPV).
Now, of course heterosexual men want to know whether there’s a way that they can get tested, like a pap smear for women or an anal pap smear for men. Unfortunately, there isn’t. Although it is possible to do a swab test on the penis, this is not usually used except in clinical studies, and it is not currently FDA approved (see the CDC’s HPV and Men par. 7 and ASHA’s What Men Should Know par. 7). The reason there is no test is because the skin on the penis is so thick that a.) it’s very hard to get a sample, and b.) it often comes up falsely negative.
That about explains everything that could happen. Most men who email me are concerned because their female partner has dysplasia and they are worried about getting cancer themselves. Cancer from HPV, for men, is pretty uncommon. This kind of HPV is usually harmless to you. You’ll never even know you have it and the only way it would become a problem is if you had sex with a new, uninfected partner. In that case, you should tell your new partner that you are a carrier before having sex with her, because she is at risk for precancerous cells and would need to have pap smears more frequently.
Please use this link to be directed to www.healthandhpv.com. to access all links mentioned in the article above
