Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for most cases of cervical cancer, but it’s not just an STD that only affects half the population.
Argentine researchers have discovered a strain of HPV. People at higher risk for cancer have a higher percentage of dead sperm.
In semen samples from people with high-risk strains, scientists found decreased white blood cell counts and increased reactive oxygen species. Damages sperm and alters DNA.
The same correlation was not observed in samples from people with low-risk HPV infection.
The study results are based only on sperm samples from 205 adult men, Previous research results HPV has been associated with reduced sperm count, motility and viability, suggesting that it has serious implications for male fertility.
“Here we show that genital HPV infection is very common in men and has variable effects on seminal inflammation and sperm quality depending on the infecting virus genotype.” explain Virginia Rivero, an infection microbiologist at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina.
“In particular, infections with high-risk HPV genotypes appear to have a more negative impact on male fertility and the immune system’s ability to clear the infection.”
today Approved clinical trials For HPV, look for: virus In a cervical screening. This is probably tToday, relatively little is known about the full extent of how HPV affects the male body.
HPV is known to cause cancers of the penis, anus, mouth, and throat in male patients. DNA can be detected in these areas with appropriate diagnostic tools. However, historically, this infection ‘Feminized’ Some researchers argue that this practice poses a public health risk.
When to get the HPV vaccine Available for the first time In 2006, it was approved in the United States only for young female patients. It took three years for the Food and Drug Administration to approve it for young male patients, and two more years for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to support that advice.
As of 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) I recommend it The HPV vaccine is included in the routine childhood immunization of both boys and girls. However, “the primary target group for vaccination is still girls aged 9 to 14”. Boys are considered a “secondary target” only if “it is feasible and affordable”.
About medicine only 1/3 of 107 countries HPV vaccination programs have also included boys. In 2019, about 4% of boys worldwide were fully vaccinated, compared with 15% of girls.
In the United States in particular, HPV vaccination rates among teenage boys are Slightly low For girls, it is expected to increase to 61% in 2022, and for boys to 65%.
In Australia, which has the world’s most successful HPV vaccination program, Guaranteed rate for 2023 For women, it was high at 85.9%, and for men, it was high at 83.4%.
“Many men are against the HPV vaccine, asking, ‘Why should I get this? “Is this for women?” explain Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, a public health scientist at Duke University who led a recent study on differences in HPV vaccination rates.
A new study from Argentina suggests a new reason.
This study analyzed sperm from 205 adult male volunteers who had not been vaccinated against HPV and visited a urology and male reproductive health clinic.
Their semen was tested for the presence or absence of HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Almost 20% tested positive for HPV, and 20 men had strains considered ‘high risk’.
Compared with 43 men without HPV infection, the semen of men with high-risk HPV infection showed several worrisome changes that were not detected by the WHO-recommended analytical method.
Using a more sensitive test, Rivero and colleagues found increased sperm death in men infected with high-risk HPV, which may be due to oxidative stress and a weakened local immune response.
“Our study raises important questions about how high-risk HPV affects sperm DNA quality and what the implications are for reproductive and offspring health.” Say Libero.
cervix cancer In the UK, cases have fallen by almost 90% thanks to the HPV vaccine, but throat and penile cancers linked to HPV are on the rise.
In 2021, two public health scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden claimed Vaccinating everyone, regardless of gender, against HPV is said to be the “only way” to eradicate this common infection and the long-term health problems it causes.
If HPV continues to be viewed as a “women’s problem,” the virus will continue to wreak havoc on women forever. Both male and female fertility.
The study was published in Frontiers in Cell and Infection Microbiology.
