HPV in Men
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is known to have more than 100 types and can affect both men and women at some point in their lives. Some types cause warts in the external genital area, while others can produce abnormalities in the tissues around the rectum and penis. Other types have no effect at all on the body.
The HPV types that cause cell changes in the genital area are transmitted during sexual intercourse. People who have unprotected sex with someone carrying the virus may over time encounter the problems it causes. Sometimes even using protection during intercourse cannot prevent transmission. The HPV vaccine can reduce the risk of developing the associated diseases.
What Are the Risk Factors for HPV?
HPV is generally transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse. However, not everyone who has intercourse with a carrier of an HPV infection will contract the virus. In men who have multiple sexual partners and whose immune system is weak, the virus can prevail over the immune system and cause health problems. In most cases, even when the virus is transmitted, no negative outcome follows in people with a strong immune system, because the body neutralises it.
What Are the Symptoms of HPV?
Human Papillomavirus can announce itself through a range of symptoms. The most common are warts forming on the penis, around the penis, in the groin, around the rectum and in the genital area. Left untreated, warts can spread to surrounding tissue. Depending on the type of sexual contact, cancerous cells may also develop on the penis, inside the mouth, in the throat and even in the oesophagus.
The main reason HPV is so dangerous is that some people carry it without ever developing symptoms. In some constitutions a dominant immune system conceals the symptoms or keeps them to a minimum. When people who notice tissue changes in the genital area ignore the problem and continue an active sex life, the risk of transmission multiplies.
Does HPV Cause Cancer?
The answer, unfortunately, is yes — and the same answer applies to the question “Is HPV dangerous?”. HPV is not a cancer in itself, but depending on the HPV type it can cause changes in the body that may turn into cancer. It can lead to cervical cancer in women and penile cancer in men, and in both women and men it can also trigger anal, throat, tongue and tonsil cancers. The cancers caused by HPV progress slowly and insidiously, and may give no sign of themselves for years.
How Is HPV Diagnosed in Men?
There is no approved HPV test for men. The diseases caused by HPV are generally diagnosed by observing the symptoms and taking a biopsy of any genital warts that appear. Men found on examination to have contracted HPV should be treated without losing time.
HPV Treatment in Men
There is no treatment that eliminates the HPV virus itself. The primary aim of HPV treatment is the surgical removal of the warts that appear on the penis and in the genital area. This both stops the warts spreading and helps prevent transmission to other people. It should be remembered, however, that it may take many years for the virus to leave the body.
Important Facts to Know About HPV
It is common for people who do not know enough about the HPV virus to be misled by inaccurate information. Wrong information can lead a person into depression, leave them feeling betrayed, cause them to postpone treatment and even to neglect their health checks.
Although the risk of contracting HPV can be reduced by using a condom, protection during intercourse does not remove the risk entirely. HPV can also be transmitted through skin contact. Because condoms cannot cover the whole of the genital area, even people who use protection during intercourse can contract the virus.
How Do You Know If You Have HPV?
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Its presence usually makes itself felt through genital warts. Although there is no HPV test for men, diagnosis and treatment can be carried out at the same time: the genital wart is removed surgically, a suppressive cream is applied so that warts do not reappear in the area, and the biopsied wart is sent for pathological examination. In women, an HPV DNA test is performed when a PAP smear — used to detect abnormalities in the cervix — returns a problematic result.
Why Does Someone Test HPV Positive?
HPV is fundamentally a sexually transmitted virus. Unprotected intercourse with an infected woman or man, and skin contact with body areas bearing genital warts, both cause transmission. Rarely, HPV infection can pass from mother to baby during birth.
How Long Does It Take for HPV to Appear?
Depending on the HPV type and the strength of the person’s immune system, warts may develop in the genital area — or on parts of the body where skin-to-mucosa contact occurred — across a wide window of anywhere from 2 months to 6 years.