Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals
Open Access
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) strains (16 and 18 mainly) have been proved to be the major cause of cancers of cervix, vulva, penis, Oropharyngeal tissues and many others. HPV infection spreads mainly through sexual intercourse. There are very limited non-sexual modes of HPV transmission available. Sexual intimacy, which includes kissing, is a major mode of transmission in case of HPV whereas in the case of other sexually transmitted infections like HIV and HBV non-sexual factors like contaminated blood transfusions contribute significantly in the spread of the virus to the other host. According to recent research, the HPV virus has been found to be associated with oral and breast cancers which have been linked with the rampant trend of oral sex among the western youth. The virus has adopted to colonize the oral cavity thus creating a new opportunity to spread through passionate kissing which has been confirmed by genotyping. Intense selection pressure can select virus to manipulate the host sexual behavior in a way that facilitates transmission. The selection pressure for such manipulations is very strong in the countries having conservative societies like India, Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and others where sexuality still remains a taboo. People in these countries generally disapprove love marriage, premarital sex and having multiple sex partners. Majority of the population avoids more than one sex partner post-marriage in their entire lifetime. This is a very serious constraint for the virus to get into new hosts. DNA viruses like high risk HPV strains can produce substantial number of variants owing to factors like large population sizes, long infection time and hypermutation of the epitopes which can lead to significant evolution of virus within the host. Evolutionary Medicine can help us to understand infectious diseases better and thus take a step closure to their cure.