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Time to consider a targeted HPV vaccination programme for male military recruits
  1. William M J Sharp1,
  2. T Nadarzynski2,3 and
  3. N E Dufty4,5
  1. 1 DPMO, Medical Centre, RNAS Yeovilton, Yeovil, UK
  2. 2 Department of Sexual Health Services, Solent NHS Trust, Southampton, UK
  3. 3 Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
  4. 4 Department of Sexual Health, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, UK
  5. 5 Department of Military Medicine, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK
  1. Correspondence to William M J Sharp, DPMO, Medical Centre, RNAS Yeovilton, Yeovil BA22 8HT, UK; willsharp{at}hotmail.co.uk

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are the most common type of sexually transmitted infection in men but also related to high-risk cancers. This article considers the epidemiology of HPV in the male military population, the UK vaccination programme and the current UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommendations. Military men may not benefit from HPV herd immunity and may have a different risk profile; vaccination may in turn reduce the operational burden of HPV-related disease within this population. Military men may benefit from a targeted vaccination programme, and the paper calls for urgent consideration of approaches that could protect them from acquiring HPV.

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Sexual Medicine
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health
  • Primary Care

https://doi.org/10.1136/jramc-2017-000802

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.