Genital warts are common in people with HIV, but their presence in uninfected individuals has also been associated with an increased risk of transmission. HIV. This is the observation made by researchers from Boston University (United States) in a study published in the Journal of Infectious Desease. Because of this, treating and preventing these warts could help reduce the spread of the disease.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is passed between people during sex. There are over 100 strains identified, some causing the Cervical cancerand others “less aggressive” are associated with the development of genital warts. Although these are generally perceived to be more bothersome than dangerous, there is growing evidence that genital warts are more likely to become infected with HIV.
Cells that HIV targets
The researchers took samples of anogenital warts and compared the number of cells that could be infected with HIV (dendritic cells, lymphocytes, macrophages …) that were there compared to samples of normal tissues located in the same place. In parallel, other samples of these warts taken from healthy men were cultured with the AIDS virus to determine if they were more susceptible to it and therefore had a higher risk of infection.
They found that compared to normal tissue from the same patient, anogenital warts had a significantly higher density of HIV target cells. About half of the samples studied had high concentrations of these cells in the outermost layer of the skin, which is the one most likely to be affected during sexual intercourse. In addition, of the eight samples cultured with HIV, two were quickly infected with the AIDS virus, which means that some anogenital warts can be very susceptible to this infection.
According to the authors, these results prove that more emphasis should be placed on the treatment of these warts. In addition, the large-scale deployment of papillomavirus vaccine, especially in countries strongly affected by AIDS, could be a research avenue to reduce the AIDS epidemic which is raging in these regions.
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