According to the study by the National Health Laboratory Services and Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, young girls who consumed alcohol were almost three times more likely to have HPV infections compared to their non-drinking counterparts, and researchers are convinced that this is due to high-risk sexual behaviour.
Of more than 200 sexually active high school girls in two rural school in the OR Tambo district, HPV was detected in about 76% of them. HPV prevalence was not found to differ between HIV-negative and HIV-positive girls. In the research paper, which has been published in the PLOS One journal, researchers described the 76% HPV infection rate as of “public concern”. The current prevalence was found to be higher than the 68% HPV prevalence among HIV-negative young women in the Western Cape, and the 65% reported in Gauteng.
Researchers also detected more multiple HPV infections than single HPV infections in the 2019 study. About 32% of study participants had a sexual debut at 16, with 54% reporting having multiple sexual partners. At least 35% didn’t use condoms and 32% didn’t use contraceptives. All the girls who participated in the study never received the HPV vaccine, which was introduced in schools in 2014 as they were too old when the vaccination programme was introduced to nine-year-old girls.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus, with its peak prevalence observed in adolescents and young women soon after sexual debut and decreasing with increasing age in women. HPV prevalence ranges between 44% and 85% among South African adolescents and young women .
OMG! Should we stock up on toilet paper?
as long as they aren't covid positive