Can high-risk HPV infect men?

Men's physical health is very important, but many men do not find out their disease problems. Of course, if some diseases are more obvious, they can be discovered and treated in time. However, it is more difficult to treat viral infections. Therefore, we must avoid viral infections in our daily lives. High-risk HPV is a very serious disease, so can high-risk HPV infect men?

What is HPV?

HPV (human papilloma virus, HPV) is a double-stranded DNA virus that can infect epithelial cells. More than 100 strains of HPV have been discovered so far. About 40 strains are known to infect the genital mucosa, of which 15 can cause cancer. HPV types 16 and 18 are the most common strains that can induce cervical cancer, and are associated with 70% of cervical cancers worldwide. HPV types 6 and 11 are associated with 90% of genital warts.

Cervical cancer is a growing problem worldwide due to a lack of screening and treatment programs for all women. Every year, there are 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer and more than 250,000 deaths in women worldwide. Cancers of the vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and some parts of the head and neck have also been linked to HPV infection.

Effects of HPV on women

In young women, most HPV infections are temporary and have no long-term effects. 70% of infections clear within 1 year and 90% clear within 2 years. However, 5%-10% of women remain infected, at which time they are at high risk of developing precancerous lesions that lead to invasive cervical cancer. This process lasts about 10-15 years, so there is ample opportunity to detect and take treatment to prevent cancer. With standard prevention and treatment measures, invasive cancers can almost all be prevented, but since preventive surgery must be performed on the lesions, it is still a considerable burden on the body, and in many cases, patients lose their fertility.

Effects of HPV on men

About 50% of all men are infected with HPV, but men often ignore HPV, so HPV can easily be transmitted to others during unprotected sex. In the United States, more than 80% of women will be infected with at least one type of HPV before the age of 50. Among all HPV types, HPV-16 and HPV-18 are "high-risk" carcinogenic types, causing 70% of cervical cancer, 80% of anal cancer, 60% of vaginal cancer and 40% of vulvar cancer. And 90% of genital warts are caused by HPV-6 and HPV-11.

Having multiple sexual partners significantly increases the risk of infection with "high-risk" HPV types. Studies have found that men with more than 50 female sexual partners are 2.4 times more likely to be infected with "high-risk" HPV types than men with no female partners or only one female partner. Among gay men, those with more than three male sexual partners are 2.6 times more likely to be infected with "high-risk" HPV types than men without male partners.

HPV is also one of the causes of oral ulcers, but it is not HPV that causes common recurrent oral ulcers (aphthous stomatitis). HPV is also different from the herpes virus (HSV) that causes erythematous oral ulcers.