In a college-age crowd, heterosexual transmission was considerable.

Although the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (Gardasil or Cervarix) now is recommended for preteens of both sexes, we still understand relatively little about HPV's natural history and transmission patterns. Montreal researchers sought to quantitate the chances that a young adult in an early sexual relationship would acquire HPV (a question likely to be of considerable interest to parents of preteens).


Among 308 college-age women and their male sexual partners — all in relationships of less than 6 months' duration — researchers identified 179 couples discordant for one or more HPV types. About 6 months later, genital sampling indicated HPV transmission in 73 couples (41%). The transmission rate was 3.7 instances per 100 person-months, for a per-person transmission probability of about 20% during a 6-month period. Transmission rates from women to men and men to women were the same and varied little with the circumcision status of the men, the lifetime sexual experience of uninfected partners, or the oncogenic risk of the HPV type.


Citation(s):

Burchell AN et al. Genital transmission of human papillomavirus in recently formed heterosexual couples. J Infect Dis 2011 Dec 1; 204:1723.