United States

Cancer-Causing HPV Virus Affects 1 in 4 US Men: Study

People under 25 are able to receive a vaccine that can protect them from cancer-causing HPV strains

New government statistics show that 25 percent of men have the strain of HPV (human papillomavirus or human wart virus) that causes cancer, NBC News reported.

Twenty percent of women have the same strain as well, and 45 percent of men have some kind of genital HPV, according to new data from the National Center for Health Statistics. People under 25 are able to receive a vaccine that can protect them from cancer-causing HPV strains, but for the rest of the population, the virus is still an issue.

Neck and head cancer are some of the implications of HPV, and some experts say that 70 percent of all head and neck cancers are caused by HPV, most likely spread through oral sex.

"Human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States," wrote the team at the NCHS, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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