Comparison of the Natural History of Genital HPV Infection among Men by Country: Brazil, Mexico, and the United States

Abstract

Background Male genital HPV prevalence and incidence has been reported to vary by geographical location. Our objective was to assess the natural history of genital HPV by country among men with a median of 48 months of follow-up. Methods Men aged 18–70 years were recruited from US (n=1326), Mexico (n=1349), and Brazil (n=1410). Genital specimens were collected every six months and HPV genotyping identified 37 HPV genotypes. Prevalence of HPV was compared between the three countries using the Fisher’s exact test. Incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. The median time to HPV clearance among men with an incident infection was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results The prevalence and incidence of the genital HPV types known to cause disease in males (HPV 16 and 6) was significantly higher among men from Brazil than men from Mexico. Prevalence and incidence of those genital HPV types in the US varied between being comparable to those of Mexico or Brazil. While genital HPV16 duration was significantly longer in Brazil (p=0.04) compared to Mexico and the US, HPV6 duration was shortest in Brazil (p=0.03) compared to Mexico and the US. Conclusion Men in Brazil and Mexico often have similar, if not higher prevalence of HPV compared to men from the U.S. Impact Currently there is no routine screening for genital HPV among males and while HPV is common in men, and most naturally clear the infection, a proportion of men do develop HPV-related diseases. Men may benefit from gender neutral vaccine policies.

The Prevalence of HPV Genotypes in Iranian Population: An Update

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Concordance of Beta-papillomavirus across anogenital and oral anatomic sites of men: The HIM Study

“…We observed that β-HPV type-specific agreement was more common in the Mexican population as compared to Brazil and the US populations. In fact, among men from the HIM study, we also recently reported significant geographic differences in the natural history of α-HPV types 6 and 16 genital infection (Sudenga et al, 2017). Interestingly, we observed that β-HPV types for which strength of agreement for any two anatomical sites was moderate or substantial were not the most prevalent in the populations analyzed (Nunes et al, 2016).…”

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