Men Infected With HPV Have Odds Of Reinfection

HPV16 is responsible for most human papillomavirus related cancers in men. After a one year period men are up to 20 times more likely to become infected with the same type of human papillomavirus. This same effect was seen in men who reported being celibate and sexually active, as published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Human papillomavirus is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, with more than 200 genetically distinct types. Vaccination may only protect against as little as 9 of the known 200 types of human papillomavirus. It is estimated that over 79 million Americans are infected with HPV, most of which don’t even know that they have it. Often there are no symptoms and the human papillomavirus will go away on its own without causing health issues.

This study investigated the many types of HPV and why the coexist. The researchers analyzed data that was tracked from over 4000 men over a 5 year period. The data analysis suggests that the diversity of human papillomavirus types may stem from the recurring infections of particular types of HPV within the individuals. Only a small amount of people are infected with any one type of human papillomavirus, the high overall HPV prevalence occurs because close to nearly half of the adult population carries at least one type of human papillomavirus. The risk of reinfection is possibly high due to the reactivation of a latent virus, or spreading the infection by the repeated contact between different locations on the body, or a combination of both.