Male Virgins Acquiring HPV

The University of Texas Health Science Center has conducted a new study showing that men that have never engaged in sexual innercourse are still at risk for acquiring the HPV virus as published in the Journal Of Infectious Diseases. The HPV virus has been found in female virgins involved in previous studies, this is the first study to find it among male virgins.

This study included participants that were between the ages of 18 and 70. The 87 participants were male virgins from USA, Mexico, and Brazil. They were followed up on every 6 months for 10 visits over a period of 4 years. Men who did not have sex during the research timeframe still had managed to acquire the HPV virus despite reporting never having to had engaged in penetrative sexual intercourse.

The rate of acquiring the HPV virus for the participants that reported not having penetrative sexual intercource was about half of the rate than of the participants that had begun to have penetrative sexual intercource during the study period. Researchers believe that the HPV virus was transmitted by non-penetrative sexual behaviors such as hand to genital contact or genital to genital contact. The study notes that 28.7% of the men who had begun having sexual intercource during the study timeframe period had acquired HPV within 1 year, and 45.5% had acquired HPV within 2 years, thus reflecting the highly infectious nature of the HPV virus.

HPV can cause oropharyngeal cancer, cervical cancer, and cancers of the vagina, vulva, anus, and penis according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is recommended by the CDC that the HPV vaccine should be given to preteens in 2 shots twelve months apart. The vaccine is said to be at its most effective point when the immune system is still maturing during puberty, but is still considered effective through to the age of 26.

There are studies challenging the suggestion of getting the HPV vaccine, as well as studies encouraging it. The choice for it should be up to the individual after conducting their own investigation taking into consideration to educate themselves on the need and of the possible risks, side effects and benefits, as one should be doing before starting any course of therapy, vaccination, procedure, or medicines.