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In the report published on 7 February ACIP recommendation for adults all boys aged 11 or 12 and previously unvaccinated young men under 21 are advised to be vaccinated against four HPV subtypes.
According to the ACIP, this is particularly important for gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) - they should be vaccinated against HPV by the age of 26. In the current issue of the journal "Annals of Internal Medicine" It states that although anal cancer is rare overall (about one in 100,000 men develop it annually), it is much more common in MSM - with 25 to 100 per 100,000 men most frequently in HIV-positive MSM. The protective effect of such a vaccination against anal cancer precursors (so-called anal intraepithelial neoplasia, AIN) is between 50 and 78 per cent for MSM.
There is currently no corresponding recommendation in Germany. The Standing Committee on Vaccination at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO) recommends the vaccination for girls aged 12-17 as well as (if indicated by a doctor) young women who have not yet received an HPV vaccination. The cost of the vaccination is around 500 euros for three injections. Vaccinations recommended by the STIKO are covered by health insurance companies.
An estimated 60 to 80 per cent of sexually active adults have antibodies against HPV in their blood, which means that their Immune system has already dealt with at least one HPV subtype. Most HPV infections disappear again within 18 to 24 months.
Some HPV types cause Genital warts on the genitals, on the Anus or (rarely) in the mouth, and can also rarely lead to cancer. Human papillomaviruses are almost always involved in cervical cancer, for example, which is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Europe and the most common cause in developing countries among young women aged between 15 and 45. HPV is considered to be the cause of around 90 per cent of cases of the very rare anal cancer (around one in 100,000 people develop the disease each year), around 40 per cent of cases of penile and vulvar cancer and around 12 per cent of cases of cancer of the mouth and throat.
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