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Consistent condom use by their male partners appears to reduce the risk of human papillomavirus, or HPV, infection in newly sexually active women, a study reports today.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA. Certain HPV types cause nearly all cervical cancer cases, and others cause genital warts.
The new study, in The New England Journal of Medicine, followed 82 female college undergraduates who reported their first intercourse with a male partner during the study or within two weeks of its start. The women had pelvic exams and HPV and Pap tests every four months. They also completed a Web-based diary about their sexual behavior every two weeks.
Women whose partners always used a condom were 70% less likely to acquire an HPV infection than women whose partners used condoms less than 5% of the time, the University of Washington researchers found.
Back in 2000, an expert government panel concluded that condom use reduces the spread of HIV and, among men, gonorrhea, but noted that adequate data regarding other sexually transmitted infections, such as HPV, were lacking.
Proponents of abstaining from sexual intercourse before marriage cited the lack of evidence about condoms and HPV to bolster their argument. But in November, the Food and Drug Administration issued labeling guidelines that say condom use may lower the risk of HPV-related diseases. However, HPV can be spread by contact with infected skin outside the area covered by the condom, the FDA notes.
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