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. 2025 Aug 1;39(10):1431-1440.
doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004209. Epub 2025 Apr 14.

Penile human papillomavirus prevalence in circumcised sexual minority men with and without HIV

Nginache Nampota-Nkomba  1 , Kareshma Mohanty  2 , Ruxton Adebiyi  3 , Charles Ekeh  4 , Lisa M Schumaker  5 , Kareemah T Suleiman  3 , Laura Powell  2 , Kara Lombardi  6   7 , Nicholas P Ambulos  5 , Elizabeth Shoyemi  4 , Abdulwasiu B Tiamiyu  8   9 , Michael G Homan  2 , Mohammad M Sajadi  2 , Søren M Bentzen  5   10 , Kevin J Cullen  5 , Trevor A Crowell  6   7 , Rebecca G Nowak  2 ; TRUST/RV368 Study Group
Affiliations

Penile human papillomavirus prevalence in circumcised sexual minority men with and without HIV

Nginache Nampota-Nkomba et al. AIDS. .

Abstract

Objective: Understanding the burden of penile human papillomavirus (HPV) among high-risk groups is essential to inform tailored prevention strategies to reduce HPV-related morbidity. We estimated the prevalence of penile HPV and its association with HIV among circumcised sexual minority men (SMM).

Design: A cross-sectional study from a community-based cohort of SMM with and without HIV in Nigeria.

Methods: Penile swabs were genotyped with a next-generation sequencing assay for any and high-risk HPV (HPV16/18/31/33/35/39/45/51/52/56/58/59/68). HIV status was ascertained using rapid diagnostic tests. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between HIV and any and high-risk penile HPV.

Results: Among 498 participants, median age was 24 (interquartile range: 22-28) years and 70.5% ( n = 351) were living with HIV. The prevalence of any ( n = 362) and high-risk ( n = 239) penile HPV was 72.7% [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 68.6-76.4] and 48.0% (95% CI: 43.6-52.4), respectively. The most common high-risk HPV types were 16, 51, 45, and 18, while the most common low-risk types were 6 and 11. HIV was significantly associated with increased odds of any penile HPV (aOR 1.93, 95% CI: 1.20-3.12). Similar to any HPV, the association of HIV with high-risk penile HPV trended in the positive direction (aOR 1.45, 95% CI: 0.96-2.27), but it was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Penile HPV and HIV were highly prevalent among circumcised SMM in Nigeria. The most prevalent strains were vaccine-preventable, highlighting the need to prioritize HPV vaccination for boys as an additional strategy to prevent HPV-related morbidities.

Keywords: HIV; MSM; Sub-Saharan Africa; circumcision; human papillomavirus; prevalence; sexual minorities.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no potential conflicts of interest. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be construed to represent the positions of the National Institutes of Health or other funders. This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute [1K07CA225403, R21DE031516]; Maryland Department of Health’s Cigarette Restitution Fund Program [CH-649-CRF], National Institutes of Health [R01 MH099001, R01 AI120913, R01 MH110358]; the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., and the U.S. Department of Defense [W81XWH-11-2-0174, W81XWH-18-2-0040]; Fogarty Epidemiology Research Training for Public Health Impact in Nigeria program [D43TW010051]; and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through a cooperative agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global AIDS Program, and the Institute for Human Virology-Nigeria [NU2GGH002099].

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