Many Americans remain unaware of the cancer risk for both men and women posed by human papillomavirus (HPV), a new Ohio State University poll has found.

Most people don’t know much about HPV and its long-term cancer risks, and also have key misperceptions about how the virus is spread, the poll found.

For example, the majority of people are unaware that the virus is more common among men than women, and is associated with rising rates of cancers that directly impact men.

Instead, people still see HPV as mostly associated with cervical cancer risk in women, and shrug off the importance of vaccination for men, results show.

This lack of awareness might explain why HPV vaccination rates have been slow to increase, researchers said.

“We have a vaccine that has been shown to reduce the risk of HPV infection by up to 90%,” Electra Paskett, a cancer control researcher with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a news release.

“This is a powerful tool for cancer prevention that has only been available to us in the past few decades, and we are seeing the impact of those vaccines now through the scientific data,” she added.

The federal Healthy People 2030 goals call for at least 80% of teens to be vaccinated against HPV by the end of the decade, according to the National Cancer Institute.

But only about 57% of boys and 61% of girls have gotten the HPV vaccine, the NCI says.

For the survey, Ohio State researchers asked people if they agree or disagree with basic statements about HPV. Responses showed an astonishing lack of knowledge.

For example, about 42% of people believe HPV is more common in women than in men, the poll found.

“This is concerning because more men are infected with HPV than women and they could unknowingly spread it to their partners,” Paskett said.

Likewise, nearly half of respondents (45%) didn’t know that HPV is linked to cancers other than cervical cancer in women.

In fact, HPV does cause more than 9 out of every 10 cases of cervical cancer, but the virus also causes cancers of the penis, anus, head and neck among men, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 4 out of every 10 cases of cancer caused by HPV occur among men, the CDC says. Every year, more than 15,000 American men develop cancers caused by HPV.

There also have been rapidly rising rates of HPV-related tonsil and tongue base cancers, noted Dr. Matthew Old, a head and neck surgeon with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

These cancers could become one of the top three cancers among middle-aged U.S. men 45 to 65 by 2045, and the most common cancer in elderly men in the next 10 years, recent estimates suggest.

In the new survey, 40% of poll respondents believed that people with HPV have symptoms. In truth, HPV infections are largely silent for years, with symptoms developing only after the virus has caused cancer.

“It can take years or even decades for the genetic changes caused by HPV to take effect and transform into cancer,” Old said in a news release.

CDC stats show that the vaccine has been effective in cutting down on HPV since its approval for girls in 2006 and subsequent approval for boys in 2009.

Infections with the HPV strains that cause most cancers have dropped 88% among teen girls and 81% among young adult women, the CDC says.

HPV is sexually transmitted, and once someone is infected there are no drugs that will rid them of the virus, experts said.

The HPV vaccine, Gardasil 9, is recommended between ages 9 and 12 for maximum effectiveness, prior to potential exposure, Paskett said. However, she added that the vaccine also is now available to adults up to age 45.

“Many who are unvaccinated unknowingly carry and spread high-risk strains of the virus,” Old said. “That’s why vaccination is so important.”

More information

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has more about why boys and young men need the HPV vaccine.

SOURCE: Ohio State University, news release, March 4, 2025

Source: HealthDay

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