SEATTLE, WA — Anti-condom forces have long insisted that the latex barriers provide little, if any, protection against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is responsible for the majority of cases of genital warts, cervical, and other female-specific cancers afflicting women worldwide. But a new study finds precisely the opposite.According to the University of Seattle study, which has been deemed the most conclusive and comprehensive of its kind, the consistent use of condoms decreases the chance of infection by more than half of that experienced by women whose partners used condoms less than 5-percent of the time.
Although the recently licensed HPV vaccine is expected to drastically reduce the incidence of warts and female cancers, it only protects against four of the human papillomavirus strains. Study authors believe that regular use of condoms can help protect women against the remaining risky strains.
“The findings are definitive,” assures Dr. James R. Allen, president of the American Social Health Association, an organization dedicated to finding ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
Previous studies had been inconclusive about the effectiveness of condoms in protecting women against HPV. In 2004 four government agencies pool efforts to learn how effective the devices truly are in order to ensure the accuracy of condom labels. Although the panel agreed that condoms are effective in protecting men and women from HIV and AIDS, and men from gonorrhea, it felt that the information available was insufficient for making a determination in the case of HPV.
The panel was emphatic that this did not mean that condoms were not effective, simply that all of the data was not in. Nonetheless, the Food and Drug Administration was encouraged to state that condoms lacked such protection.
According to Dr. Rachel L. Winer, co-author of the study, there are several factors that have affected the results of previous studies. Primarily methodology issues, Winer points out that in addition to the challenges inherent in convincing couples that have only recently begun dating to participate in a study of this kind, there are ways other than vaginal and anal intercourse by which an infection can be transmitted.
In order to work around these issues, Winer’s team began working with 82 female university students, aged 18 through 22, starting in late 2000 to determine their sexual history from the time of their first partnered experience up to the end of the research period in mid 2005. While involved with the study, the women reported their daily sexual behavior and condom use every two weeks via a secure website. In addition to being personally interviewed, they were also tested for HPV and early signs of cancer every four months.
