Recent studies have shown teen males are at equal risk as teen girls from human papillomavirus (HPV) and should also receive the vaccine to protect against the disease.

The HPV virus is commonly known to be a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that causes cervical cancer in females. However, the virus has also been shown to have equally harmful effects on males who contract HPV from intercourse.

“The virus is very prevalent in the community. It’s transmitted sexually, and both males and females suffer the effects of the virus when they get the virus,” Dr. Stewart Segal, local doctor of the LZ Family Treatment Center, said. “While the female has to worry about cervical cancer, she also has to worry about venereal (genital) warts, and the male has to worry about venereal warts [as well].”

HPV has also been shown to cause throat and anal cancers in both males and females who engage in oral and anal sex with infected partners, according to an October New York Times article.

In order to protect teen boys and young men from contracting the disease, doctors now recommend boys receive the GARDASIL vaccine to protect against HPV. They ask parents to consider having their sons vaccinated between ages 11 and 12, or potentially even younger, to ensure protection throughout the teenage years. The vaccine does not, however, cure HPV once contracted – it can only protect against it.

“I distinctly recommend the vaccine for both boys and girls, I’m glad that they finally decided to include men and women both. The day the FDA said [the vaccine] is approved for males, I started recommending it for males. [It’s] the same vaccination [for males as females],” Segal said.

In addition to FDA approval, this recommendation comes from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which held a panel on the subject in October. The panel hopes for a future national plan which will allow all teens to receive the vaccine against HPV for free, according to the New York Times article.

The panel also encouraged teens and men ages 13 through 26 to receive the vaccine, though they might have already come in contact with the HPV virus during sexual activity. GARDASIL, the leading HPV vaccine, protects against four types of HPV strands, more than any other HPV vaccine. This means boys and men who are already sexually active can still protect themselves against strands of the virus they have not yet been exposed to, according to a recent GARDASIL ad.

The GARDASIL ad campaigns have also changed to reflect the recent studies regarding male HPV cases. They now promote vaccination for both sons and daughters to protect both genders from cancer.

While full protection against the virus is not currently possible, both males and females seeking protection from the harmful effects of HPV are eligible to receive the GARDASIL vaccine. Segal hopes many doctors will encourage their male patients to receive the vaccine in an effort to stop the spread of HVP.

“To treat one side of the problem without treating the other side of the problem won’t eradicate the virus,” Segal said. “The hope is, like many other viruses that have been treated successfully with vaccines, we will seriously reduce the viral load, the amount of virus that’s in the community, [and] the amount of people who have it and can pass it from one to another.”