Archives for February 25th, 2008 | Continuum Wellness News

Women risk HPV infection from first sex partner

by: continuum wellness - February 25th, 2008 Filed under: cervical cancer, genital warts, HPV, sex, women 1 Comment

Information to share, not out of fear, but to encourage judiciousness.

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women run a significant risk of acquiring human papillomavirus (HPV) from their very first sex partner, according to a new report.

Human papillomavirus or HPV is the cause of genital warts, as well as most cases of cervical cancer.

“HPV infections are common among newly sexually active young women, even in those reporting only one partner,” Dr. Rachel L. Winer told Reuters Health. Therefore, she pointed out, the new HPV vaccines will have the greatest impact when they’re given before young women become sexually active.

Winer, from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues attempted to determine the risk of HPV infection in 244 young women enrolled in a study before or within 3 months of their first intercourse. They were followed for up to three years. Women who acquired a second sex partner during follow-up were excluded from the analysis.

Within 12 months of intercourse with their first sex partner, 29% of the women tested positive for HPV, the researchers report in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. After 24 months, the cumulative rate of HPV infection increased to 39%, and at 36 months it was 49%.

The investigators found that the only factor associated with risk of HPV infection was the male partner’s number of previous partners.

“Our previous work has shown high rates of female HPV infection following sexual debut,” Winer said. “Therefore, it is not surprising to see a high risk of infection from a first male partner.”

She added, “It is important to encourage condom use with all new partners, and regular Pap smear screening.”

SOURCE: Journal of Infectious Diseases, January 15, 2008.

Caffeine in pregnancy tied to testes woes in sons

by: continuum wellness - February 25th, 2008 Filed under: caffeine, coffee, pregnancy, reproduction, undescended testicles, women 2 Comments

As much as you may love the bean, if you’re pregnant, this study highlights a compelling reason to cut back your consumption.

By Scott Baltic

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a recent study, sons born to women who drank the equivalent of three cups of coffee a day during pregnancy were more likely to have undescended testes at age 2 years.

The testes in male babies usually move from the pelvis into the scrotum shortly before birth, but sometimes this doesn’t happen. The condition is termed cryptorchidism.

The current findings, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, come from a study of 7,574 male infants. Persistent cryptorchidism, defined as one or two undescended testicles at birth persisting to at least age 2 years, was present in 101 infants.

The investigators, at the Center for Research on Women’s and Children’s Health in Berkeley, California looked for any association between persistent cryptorchidism and maternal smoking, alcohol consumption, or caffeine consumption.

The only significant association was with caffeine consumption equivalent to three cups of coffee per day.

Dr. Barbara A. Cohn, one of the researchers, told Reuters Health that there has been increasing interest in cryptorchidism recently “because of the increase in the incidence of testicular cancer, known to be more common among those who were cryptorchid.”

Cohn explained that caffeine “appears to interfere with reproduction, increasing the rate of miscarriage, which is more common when there are errors in fetal development.” This would fit with the current findings, because “cryptorchidism is a defect of fetal development.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 1, 2008.

Reuters Health