Half of Men Have Genital HPV

Men at High Risk of Developing Most Common Type of Sexually Transmitted Infection, Study Finds

By Kelli Miller Stacy
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Feb. 28, 2011 -- About half of adult men have genital human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection that has been linked to certain cancers, according to a study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Genital HPV is the most common type of sexually transmitted infection. Many people infected with HPV do not know they have it. There are many different strains of HPV. More than 40 of them affect the genitals. Some types of genital HPV cause genital warts, while others can lead to cancer. Persistent infection with a high-risk strain of HPV is the leading cause of nearly all cervical cancers in women. Genital HPV may also lead to less common, but serious, cancers of the penis, anus, vulva, and vagina and some cancers of the oral cavity and head and neck.

You are more likely to catch HPV if you have multiple sexual partners.

The NCI-funded study involved more than 1,000 adult men aged 18 to 70 years old that lived in the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. All men were HIV-negative and had no history of cancer. The average age of the study participants was 32. The men were examined and tested for signs of a genital HPV infection every six months for an average of more than two years.

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