Thesis argues papilloma virus can be contracted without sexual contact

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According to the findings of a recent doctoral study, human papilloma virus can also be transmitted without sexual contact, mostly from mother to child.
      Previously the virus has been thought to spread only through sex. Furthermore, a positive papilloma virus test result on a child has in some cases been seen as evidence of incest against the father.
     
Medical licensiate Marjut Rintala has studied ways of transmitting HPV in families with infants in her thesis: "Even newborn babies can have papilloma virus. However, very few of them end up having a persistent infection. On the other hand, children affected with HPV develop a normal antibody for the virus."
      The virus can spread through mother's saliva or hands but the father's role as a contractor is very remote. According to Rintala's study, 34 percent of children had developed an antibody for the virus by the age of one.
      Most people acquire HPV at some point of their lives. In most cases, however, it goes away on its own.
      On the other hand, papilloma virus is the main single risk factor for cervical cancer and it has also been linked together with mouth, larynx, esophagus, and anal cancers.
     
Very little is known about ways of contracting HPV other than through sexual contact. A mother can transmit the virus to the baby, but the father's role as a contractor has not been studied before.
      Contrary to the previous thinking, no link between papilloma virus infection and oral sex could be demonstrated in Rintala's study.
      Rintala's doctoral thesis is entitled Human papilloma virus infections in infants and their parents: Transmission and natural history of HPV infections - a Finnish family cohort study. It will be examined at the University of Turku tomorrow, Friday.
      Rintala studied over 300 families with children for over three years, and nearly 35,000 samples were taken to test for HPV.
      Doctor Rintala works as an obstetrician and gynecologist at Turku University Hospital.


Links:
  Journal of Clinical Microbiology

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