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AN STI that’s more common in men than women is driving a rise in cancers, scientists have warned.
The human papillomavirus – known as HPV – is often associated with the risk of cervical cancer in women.
But the group of viruses is actually more common in men and is fuelling rising rates of cancers that directly impact men – including penile cancer, as well as some types of head and neck cancer and anal cancer.
A survey conducted by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) found that many people assume that HPV was more common in women and knew little about how the infection is spread and its long term cancer risk.
Dr Electra Paskett, a cancer control researcher at OSUCCC, warned this lack of knowledge leaves people vulnerable to developing preventable cancers.
“This is concerning because more men are infected with HPV than women and they could unknowingly spread it to their partners,” she said.
HPV is spread through close skin-to-skin contact, vaginal, anal or oral sex and sharing sex toys.
Most people will get some form of HPV in their life and for many, an infection won’t cause any problems or symptoms.
But sometimes the virus can cause painless growths or lumps around your vagina, penis or anus – known as genital warts.
And in some cases, high risk strains of HPV will cause abnormal changes to cells that eventually turn into cancer.
Dangerous strains of the common virus can cause:
Researchers found that nearly half of the 1,0005 people responding to their survey – 45 per cent – didn’t know that HPV was linked to cancers other than cervical.
While the virus is primary risk factor for cervical cancer, it’s also linked to rising rates of cancers that affect the tonsils, base of tongue, throat, neck, oesophagus, anus and genitals, the study team noted.
Another 42 per cent of respondents assumed that HPV is more common in women – when in fact, the virus is actually more common in men.
Researchers said people tend to assume that are there as the cervical screening programme aiming to pick up cell changes caused by HPV only applies to women.
A further 40 per cent of respondent believed that they’d have symptoms if they were infected with HPV.
In fact, many people don’t have symptoms from the virus until they develop cancer.
Head and neck surgeon Dr Matthew Old raised the alarm over rapidly rising rates of HPV-related head and neck cancers which affect the tonsils and tongue.
He said that if this trend continues, they could quickly be among the most common forms of cancer in adults between the ages of 45 and 65.
Recent estimates suggest that head and neck cancer may become one of the top three cancers among middle-aged men in the United States by 2045, and the most common form of cancer among elderly men in the next 10 years.
As for the UK, a report published last year showed a 47 per cent rise in head and neck cancer diagnoses between 2013 and 2020.
HPV will often cause no discernible symptoms.
Many people won’t know they’ve had it unless they develop genital warts, or cancer years later.
There’s no blood test for HPV, but the virus may be spotted during a cervical screening, which involves a small sample of cells being taken from the cervix and tested for HPV.
Screening is offered to all women and people with a cervix from the age of 25 to 64 to help protect them against cervical cancer.
If you’re within this age bracket, you’ll get a letter in the post from the NHS inviting you to make an appointment.
A jab that protects from the virus is offered to both boys and girls aged 12 to 13, with catch-up vaccines offered to people who missed it.
But the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recently warned that over a quarter of eligible pupils are missing out on the life-saving jab each year.
Dr Paskett said: “We have a vaccine that has been shown to reduce the risk of HPV infection by up to 90 per cent.
“This is a powerful tool for cancer prevention that has only been available to us in the past few decades, and we are seeing the impact of those vaccines now through the scientific data.”
Dr Old added: “It can take years or even decades for the genetic changes caused by HPV to take effect and transform into cancer.
“Once exposed, there are currently no treatments for HPV infections, and many who are unvaccinated unknowingly carry and spread high-risk strains of the virus.
“That’s why vaccination is so important.”
Practicing safe sex with condoms and dental dams can also help protect against HPV – though they won’t cover all the skin around the genitals so can’t offer full protection.
The HPV vaccine protects against some of the risky HPV types that can lead to genital warts and cancer.
Gardasil has been the HPV vaccine used in the NHS vaccination programme since 2012. It is protective against nine types of HPV.
For example it is effective against types 16 and 18 which cause around 80 per cent of cervical cancers in the UK.
That’s why it is important for people who have a cervix to still get a smear test when invited by the NHS.
Cervical cancer takes the lives of 854 people a year currently – but this is expected to continue decreasing thanks to the vaccine.
There are around 3,200 new cases of the devastating cancer a year, with peak incidence in women in their early 30s.
But the HPV vaccine doesn’t just prevent cervical cancer – it stops some anal, genital (vaginal and penile), mouth and throat (head and neck) cancers.
These affect both men and women.
Who should take it?
The first dose of the HPV vaccine is routinely offered to girls and boys aged 12 and 13 in school Year 8.
The second dose is offered 6 to 24 months after the 1st dose.
If a school child misses their doses, you can speak to the
school jab team or GP surgery to book as soon as possible.
Anyone who missed their jab can get it up to their 25th birthday.
But people who have the first dose of the HPV vaccine at 15 years of age or above will need to have three doses of the vaccine because they do not respond as well to two doses as younger people do.
The HPV vaccine used to only be given to girls who are at risk of cervical cancer when they are older.
But in 2018, it was announced that boys – who can get HPV-related cancers of the head, nech, anal and genitals – would also be given a jab.
Girls indirectly protect boys against HPV related cancers and genital warts because girls will not pass HPV on to them.
But the programme was extended to further eliminate risk of the virus spreading in the future.
Men who have sex with men (gay and bisexual) do not benefit from this indirect protection, and so are also able to get the HPV vaccine up to the age of 45.
Some transgender people can also get the vaccine.
Those assigned female at birth would have gotten one as a child. But those assigned male at birth could get a jab if they transition to female and have sex with men.
MEDICS were shocked to learn a woman’s iron deficiency was caused by worms feeding off her body.
The 75-year-old woman visited the doctor in China after experiencing weakness, poor appetite, and trouble sleeping for two months.
Blood tests revealed the farmer from Hunan Province, in South Central China, had severe anaemia caused by iron deficiency.
This happens when the body doesn’t have enough iron to make haemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
Without enough haemoglobin, the red blood cells can’t do their job properly, leaving the body starved for oxygen.
This results in symptoms like weakness, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
She was also diagnosed with chronic atrophic gastritis, where the stomach lining becomes inflamed, and Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that causes stomach infections.
Both these conditions can make it harder for her body to absorb the iron it needs.
However, despite having been diagnosed with these conditions, there was still no explanation for the anaemia, medics from Central South University in Changsha, wrote in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.
The doctors initially focused on managing these conditions, but her symptoms persisted despite treatment.
It wasn’t until an endoscopy – a test that looks inside the body – revealed live hookworms in her gut that doctors realised the true cause of her woes.
Stool tests confirmed that the hookworms were necator americanus, a species of worm known to cause severe anaemia.
These parasites feed on blood in the intestines, which can lead to severe iron deficiency over time.
The authors never explicitly said how she contracted the hookworm, but it’s likely that she was exposed to contaminated soil or water through her job as a farmer, which is common in rural areas.
Hookworm larvae can enter the body through the skin, often through bare feet, or through ingestion of contaminated food or water.
This particular case was especially tricky because the woman didn’t show typical signs of gastrointestinal bleeding, which often makes hookworm infections go undiagnosed, the experts explained.
“Although hookworm infection is rare in China, it remains a concern in rural areas, where the prevalence of such infections may still be underestimated,” the doctors wrote.
The woman was treated with albendazole, an anti-parasitic drug, which cleared the worms from her system.
She also received blood transfusions to boost her hemoglobin levels.
After treatment, her symptoms vanished, and her anaemia was completely cured.
IT is not unusual for doctors to find random objects inside people's bodies.
Whether they are inhaled by accident, inserted for erotic pleasure or as a means to try and solve a health problem like constipation, doctors see it all.
Medics recently found a fully intact fly buzzing around a man’s intestines.
Meanwhile, a lady in Taiwan recently made the news because a live spider and its discarded outer shell were found inside her ear.
Spiders crawling inside the body are rare; those with arachnophobia will be pleased to hear.
While the person giving a home to a spider had little choice, others accidentally inhale objects, while some even purposely stick things up themselves.
A 2021 study found the vast majority – a whopping 88 per cent – of people attending A&E with this complaint are men.
Some of these have included apples, an aubergine, a brush, pens, carrots, a deodorant can and pesticide containers.
Inhaling objects is one of the most common causes of death in children under three.
Some of the most commonly inhaled objects include coins, toys or magnets, peanuts, and even hot dogs.
In one bizarre case published in Dove Press, doctors in Africa found a leech stuck in a little girl’s throat, which was later safely removed.
A postman from Preston, England, inhaled a Playmobil road cone as a child, but it was only discovered when the 47-year-old had his lungs scanned when he presented with a persistent cough.
In another odd case, a man inhaled a pea, which was in place long enough for it to begin to sprout in his respiratory tract.
DONALD Trump is reportedly planning to kick out 240,000 Ukrainian refugees from the US.
The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden’s administration.
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