The Lancet: More than 30% of men in the world are infected with cancer-causing HPV
An international team of scientists led by specialists from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (Spain) found that a third of men on the planet are carriers of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes the development of uterine cancer in women. The results of the study are published in The Lancet Global Health.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus. In total, there are more than 200 types, of which 12 are considered oncogenic. The disease is asymptomatic. More than 340,000 women die of cervical cancer every year, and the virus can also increase the risk of anal, oral, and pharyngeal cancers. In men, HPV most often manifests itself in the form of anogenital warts, but can also provoke penile cancer.
The epidemiology of human papillomavirus in women is well documented, but the prevalence of the virus in men remains unknown. To close this gap, the authors reviewed 65 studies investigating this topic. About 45 thousand men took part in them.
The results showed that 31% of men on Earth are infected with at least one type of HPV, 21% – HPV of high oncogenic risk. The most common are HPV-16 and HPV-6.