HPV often lies dormant in men

Freshman Tommy Lentz has never thought twice about HPV.

Lentz said he doesn't know anyone who has ever had the virus, so he has not had to worry. Unfortunately, some people do.

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, affects 6.2 million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women are diagnosed with HPV, a sexually transmitted infection, at some point in their lives.

"The only time I have ever learned about it was in my high school health class, but I never knew how terrible it was," Lentz said.

HPV is common because many infected people do not show symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Kelly Freeland, a nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center, said the only way to test women for the negative effects of HPV is with a Pap test. A Pap test shows abnormalities that could be linked to HPV, she said.

Unfortunately, there is no widely used test for men, Freeland said.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the only visual warning sign of HPV is genital warts, which are tiny gray, flesh-colored or pink bumps that grow rapidly. They appear in clusters and commonly take on a cauliflower-like shape.

Women might find these bumps on the walls of the vagina, vulva and the area between the outer genitals and anus. Genital warts in men are found on the tip and shaft of the penis as well as the area between the genitals and anus. Warts also can develop in the mouth or the throat when contracted through oral sex, according to the Mayo Clinic.

HPV has been linked to cervical cancer in women and penile cancer in men, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"There's over 30 different types of HPV that can affect the genital area," Freeland said. "Out of those, the four most common are in the vaccine Gardasil."

Freeland said the government issued a grant so that Gardasil could be administered to those who otherwise would not be able to pay for the vaccination. Currently, the vaccination is available free-of-charge at Planned Parenthood for women who qualify.

Gardasil is imperative for women because if they contract HPV they can experience serious health problems in the future and during pregnancy, according to the Mayo Clinic. Warts caused by HPV can impair urination and affect the ability of the vaginal walls to stretch during pregnancy. In addition to causing unsightly bleeding, HPV can cause babies to develop warts in their throat or mouth, thus causing the baby to have breathing problems.

There are many ways to treat genital warts that are caused by HPV, Freeland said.

The health center normally recommends a colposcopy for those students who come back with both an abnormal Pap test and a positive HPV screening, Freeland said. A colposcopy is a more in-depth test that ensures women who have had an abnormal Pap test do not have cervical cancer. It also can diagnose how invasive the HPV has been to cellular structures in the body.

There are two brands of creams that can help fight genital warts, according to the Mayo Clinic. Aldara is a cream that boosts the immune system's ability to fight off genital warts, and Condylox destroys genital wart tissue.

Trichloroacetic acid is a chemical, topical treatment that can be applied to burn off the warts, according to the Mayo Clinic. Warts also can be cryogenically frozen or burned off by electrical current.

Evonne Bird, professor of heath and exercise sciences, said Freeland speaks to her class about the dangers of STIs. "Including a discussion of HPV as a part of Health 195 meets the objective to 'identify and describe symptoms of the most common sexually transmitted infections,'" Bird said.