HPV also affects men

• April 19, 2024

Most men who have the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) never develop symptoms or related health problems. But certain types can cause genital warts. Others may cause anal cancer or cancer in the penis. The types of HPV that warts can cause are not the same type that causes penile or anal cancer, since there are about 100 different varieties.

The group of viruses belonging to the "family" of the human papilloma virus are characterized by infecting tissues such as the skin, bronchi and genitals, producing warts and petty in hands and feet commonly.

At the level of the genitals, the infection caused by the Papilloma Virus is much better known to affect women, but little is known about the types that also infect men. This infection is considered a sexually transmitted or venereal infection and the man, like the woman, is infected through sexual contact with a partner who carries the virus.

Unfortunately, this infection, being asymptomatic in most of its cases, and does not cause discomfort, can cause a man to be a carrier and not go to the doctor, being infected, which could make it an virus transmitter without being conscious

The United States Department of Health indicates that if HPV becomes the type that infects man, it can appear in two forms, mainly in condyloma acuminatum or in a subclinical infection. Condyloma manifests itself in small formations resembling "clusters of grapes", located under the glans (the head of the penis) and can be traumatized causing bleeding. The subclinical infection does not present discomfort and is usually discovered when the woman partner presents the infection in the vagina or uterus.

Penile cancer and anal cancer are rare, especially in circumcised men. In the United States it is estimated that 1 in every 100 thousand men suffer from it. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers that gay men and bisexuals are 17 times more likely to suffer from anal cancer than heterosexual men.

Video Medicine: HPV Causing Cancer In Men (April 2024).