Q&A: Men and HPV

Q&A of the Week: Men and HPV

How can a man protect himself from HPV?

Luke writes: I am concerned, and I hope you can help me. I am 25 years old, and have fallen in love with a wonderful woman. However, she tells me that a few years ago, she had treatments on her cervix for problems which were probably related to HPV. She says that she was told that it wouldn't interfere with her ability to have children. I would like to know whether she still has the virus and if I could catch it. Should we use condoms? One of your articles said that condoms might not help that much. She was told that she might have the virus for life. What should we do?

Hi, Luke -

It's wonderful when I hear from the men!

Here's the deal: For a long time, it was felt that once infected with HPV, the person carried it for life. The current thinking is that this is uncommon. Most of the time, people seem to fight off in the infection in about 1-3 years, and then are not contagious any more. As far as we can tell at this point, if she has been having normal Pap tests for 2 years, she is probably clear. However, stay tuned, as more about this is being learned all the time.

There are other questions and things to consider, however:

1) Are you carrying the virus? If you have had sexual activity with anyone in the last 1-3 years (possibly longer) YOU may be infected. Men are almost always asymptomatic, and there is no screening test for men. (HPV can cause penile and anal cancers, but these are quite rare.)

2) Could she have caught a different type of the virus? If she has had sexual activity with anyone within the last 1-3 years (possibly longer), she could still be carrying HPV - just a different type from the type that gave her the cervical problems before. In women, HPV is also usually asymptomatic. It only causes precancerous changes (dysplasia) a minority of the time.

The stats on this are fairly astonishing. In a recent study of young women, every time they had a new sexual partner, their chances of catching HPV shot up dramatically. At some point in the study, 93% of the women showed signs of being infected with HPV. Of course, we can assume that an equal number of men are in the same position. In men, however, the infection is almost totally "silent". (I have heard many stories of men declaring to sexual partners that they are not infected. There is NO way for them to have known this.)

The bottom line of this story is that we should all basically take the stance that everyone is infected, because it is so likely to be true.

As far as condoms go, the research on this is mixed. Some studies show some definite protective effect, while others show little or none. One thing is certain, and that is that condoms don't offer full protection from HPV.

So, then, what's a couple of do? Never have sex? That's pretty unrealistic. One option is to try to realistically assess the chances of the relationship being a significant, long-term relationship. A monogamous couple will expose one another to the types of HPV they each have, but hopefully their bodies will fight off the virus, and they have created a closed system where new HPV types won't likely get a foothold.

More Q&A's About Dysplasia and HPV

GO TO:

HPV/Dysplasia Resource Page

Gyn Cancer Resource Page

Laura's Gyn Cancer Home

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