A new study of 125 university students shows that nearly one-third of women who reported having just one male sexual partner were infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) within a year of starting that relationship.
Furthermore, three years later, nearly 50 percent of these women had been infected at least once, even though they still had only one sexual partner.
Lead author Dr. Rachel Winer, of the University of Washington-Seattle, said, "This paper shows that even just with one partner there's a high risk of infection."
She added, "It's unlike other STDs where. the virus or bacteria is in core [population] groups. HPV is different in that it's just very common among everyone who's having sex. So even just being exposed to one partner makes you susceptible to infection."
The authors suggested that some women in the study may have become newly infected after two or three years because of decreased condom use. Also, the infections may have resulted from male partners having sex with others; unreported sexual activity with other partners; or sexual activity other than intercourse.
Furthermore, the rate of infection was higher among women who thought their male friends had had more than two previous sexual partners, as opposed to those who thought their partner's experience was more limited.
According to Dr. Monika Naus, director of an immunization program in British Columbia, these findings underscore the wisdom of offering the HPV vaccine to girls before they have sex. In Canada, by age 16, 28.3 percent of males and 33.4 percent of females have had sexual intercourse. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases supported the study.
The full report, "Risk of Female Human Papillomavirus Acquisition Associated with First Male Sex Partner," is published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (2008;197:279-282).
01/13/08
UNITED STATES: High HPV Rate Seen Even Among Girls Who Had Just One Sex Partner
Source: Canadian Press:: Helen Branswell; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention