Key points

  • HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world and is a risk factor for several cancers.
  • This study provides evidence that HPV is sexually transmitted to the oral tract through oral-oral and oral-genital contact.
  • Understanding how HPV is transmitted is important.
  • It will help us identify who is most at risk for HPV infection and how we can help them protect themselves and their partners.

Study

  • This study looked at HPV infections in 222 men and their female partners. They found that among men in the study, the prevalence of oral HPV was 7.2%
  • Numbers were higher for men who -were smokers 12.2%
  • Those who were in non-monogamous relationships 17.9%
  • Those who had a partner with oral HPV infection 28.6%
  • And/or genital HPV infection 11.5%
  • 222 of men included in the analysis, 130 had a partner with a genital HPV infection.
  • The prevalence of HPV16, one of the most common cancer-causing HPV types, was 2.3 percent among all men who participated in the study and 6.1 percent among the 33 men who had partners with a genital HPV16 infection.
  • For every unit increase in the frequency of oral sex on the female partner (never/rarely, sometimes, or most times/always) men had a more than TWOFOLD increase in the prevalence of the specific HPV type present in the genitals of the female partner.
  • Participants were from the HPV Infection and Transmission Among Couples Through Heterosexual Activity study conducted at McGill University.
  • Female students ages 18 to 24 and their male partners were recruited to the study between 2005 and 2011. Participants completed a questionnaire about their sexual history and provided oral and vaginal or penile/scrotal samples. Then researchers analyzed the samples for the presence of 36 mucosal HPV types.
  • There were no HPV infections among the 52 men who never smoked cigarettes, were in a monogamous relationship, and had a partner without oral or genital HPV.
  • Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infections were higher among MEN who had FEMALE partners with an oral and/or genital HPV infection. This suggests that the transmission of HPV occurs via oral-oral and oral-genital routes