Almost one in three men over the age of 15 have at least one genital human papillomavirus (HPV) type, and one in five have one or more of the so-called high-risk, or oncogenic, HPV varieties, according to a new study published today in The Lancet Global Health.
These estimates highlight the need to include males in efforts to manage HPV infection and to lower the incidence of HPV-related disease in both men and women by demonstrating how commonly men have genital HPV infections.
The majority of HPV infections are asymptomatic and go away on their own, but some of them might cause cancer or anogenital warts. Each year, more than 340,000 women die from cervical cancer linked to HPV, which is the main cause of the disease in women. IARC predicted that more than 69,400 incidences of cancer in men were brought on by HPV in 2018. Men who have HPV are more likely to develop throat, anal, oral, and penile malignancies.
