Men can also receive and give HPV. Any sexually active male or female can pass on HPV to their partners. There is no known cure for HPV. HPV is a group of 100+ viruses. Men get HPV the same way women do, through skin-to-skin sexual contact. This contact can be vaginal or oral. If you are male and have a healthy immune system, HPV will not normally have any serious health threats for you. You can however pass on HPV to the females that you have genital contact with and pass along HPV to them and they can have serious health related issues from HPV.

There have not been as much large group studies conducted on males and HPV, in America, so it is difficult to determine male statistics regarding HPV. It is known that HPV infection is common to both males and females. There are no FDA approved HPV tests for men at this time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does estimate that more than half of all American men will get HPV during their life.

Men will not usually have any symptoms that they are infected with HPV. It is not very usual for there to be skin changes once infected with HPV, though there can be skin changes that are not noticed. One visible skin change is the presence of genital warts. These can be seen or felt on the genitals (anus and penis or scrotum, groin or thigh areas) of men. The genital warts may vary in appearance and can be small, flaky patches or they may be raised cauliflower looking or flat bumps. Genital warts are not a serious health issue for men. They can be treated or left alone, depending on the patient’s preference and on the advice of a medical professional. Treatment depends on the location, size and position of the wart.

After treatment for HPV, if the body is still not immune suppressed to the virus, genital warts can reappear.

HPV can cause certain types of cancer such as cancer of the penis or anus, but it is rare for this to occur.

At this time, there is no HPV test for men that has been approved by the FDA. There is no data yet, that can prove that a vaccine would be affective in males.

Males, who are sexually active with someone who discovers they have HPV, do not need to stop having sex with them if they are taking condoms. Unfortunately, by the time HPV is detected, the sexual partners have already been infected. However if you should become involved with a different sexual partner you should tell that partner that you have been exposed to HPV whether or not you have any genital warts.

HPV is a very common occurrence and cannot be avoided altogether if you are sexually active–especially if you have multiple partners. There are steps you can do to help minimize your risk for HPV exposure. You can:

Limit your sexual activity to one partner

Wear a condom every time you have sexual relations.

If you are going to have more than one sexual partner, it is imperative that you avoid sexual contact with a new partner when there are noticeable genital warts.