New Study Explores How HPV is Transmitted

HPV, or to give it its scientific name, the human papillomavirus, is one of the world's most common sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and in some cases, can lead to other health problems such as genital warts and cervical cancer.

Doctors from the Department of Oncology at McGill University in Canada have been exploring exactly how the STI is transmitted from person to person, finding that it can be passed on not just through oral sex, but also via kissing.

To make this discovery, the team analyzed the sexual health of 222 men and their female partners. The male participants were required to complete a questionnaire detailing their sexual history, as well as providing samples from their mouths and genitals for analysis.

Some 7.2 per cent of the men had the oral form of the virus, but just 11.5 per cent of these males had female sexual partners with genital HPV.

Yet 28.6 per cent had partners with the oral-based virus, indicating that it is not just oral sex where HPV can be a risk, but also mouth-to-mouth contact.

Other prevalent factors in the transmission of HPV were found to be smoking (12.2 per cent of cases in men) and non-monogamous relationships (17.9 per cent of males).

Lead author of the study Eduardo Franco commented: 'Understanding how HPV is transmitted is important because it will help us identify who is most at risk for HPV infection and how we can help them protect themselves and their partners.

'Our work provides additional evidence that HPV is sexually transmitted to the oral tract through oral-to-oral and oral-to-gential contact.'

Last month, a study from the University of Texas Health Science Center revealed that a compound found in shiitake mushrooms could help to ward off HPV infections and prevent them from developing into cancer.

In addition, research from the Texas facility on the subject has shown individuals with dental problems may be significantly more likely to be diagnosed with HPV.

U.S. Report Finds Many STDs May Go Undiagnosed

About 400,000 Americans may have the sexually transmitted diseaes chlamydia, however not know they have it, new research says that.

The new government report evaluates that 1.8 million individuals in the United States have chlamydia, however that just 1.4 million contaminations have been accounted for.

Ladies, especially adolescent women, appear to have a significantly more serious danger of harboring this frequently symptomless disease, as indicated by the U.S. National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD in women, and TB Prevention news release.

Scientists investigated information from the 2007 to 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that 1.7 percent of men and ladies aged 14 to 39 have chlamydia, which works out to about 1.8 million diseases in the United States. only, just about 1.4 million chlamydia diseases are accounted for every year, which shows that numerous chlamydia contaminations go undiagnosed, the scientists said.

The chlamydia disease rate is most astounding among sexually dynamic young ladies aged 14 to 19, at 6.4 percent, the investigation found. The rate among sexually active young men aged 14 to 19 is 2.4 percent.

The study likewise discovered huge racial contrasts. For instance, the rate among sexually active black teen girls is 18.6 percent, compared and 3.2 percent among sexually active white young women.

The discoveries demonstrate the essentials of screening all sexually active teen girls for chlamydia so as to guarantee that every one of the individuals who are tainted get diagnosed and treated, the specialists said.

They included that the racial contrasts they ran across show the requirement for focused on intercessions, especially among black girls.

The study was planned for presentation Tuesday at the STD Prevention Conference in Atlanta