[Proven and new methods in the treatment of genital warts]

[Human papillomavirus disease burden in men : HPV prevention is a man's business]

Due to the lack of an established school-based immunization program, the initial German public funded girls-only human papillomavirus (HPV)-vaccination strategy failed. Over the last decade, the female coverage rates have not exceeded much more than 40%, thus, missing herd immunity for boys. Therefore, the German HPV immunization program has been revised and currently recommends a gender-neutral HPV vaccination for all children aged 9-14 years to prevent all HPV-related tumors which can be prevented by immunization. In order to correct the mistaken German impression of this being an  issue relevant only to females, this article highlights the HPV disease burden in men which mostly can be prevented by timely immunization of boys. German urologists have started a campaign: HPV prevention is a man's business.

[Anogenital warts and HPV-associated precancers : Looking into the recently passed German S2k guideline]

Anogenital warts are the most frequently sexually transmitted disease caused by viral infections worldwide. People's lifetime risk to suffer from this disease or HPV-associated precancers counts to more than 10%. The therapy and the recurrence rates of both disorders continue to be challenging in Germany because the coverage rate of the preventive HPV vaccination is still insufficient. This underlines the importance of a recently passed interdisciplinary German guideline on anogenital HPV lesions. This article summarizes the main aspects of the new guideline. Specialists should be consulted by children, pregnant women, individuals suffering from immunodeficiency and people frequently having relapses of HPV-associated diseases or having lesions being accessible only endoscopically.

[One decade of HPV vaccination in Germany]

As a worldwide very common sexually transmitted infection (STI), HPV causes millions of genital warts every year and is responsible for 5% of all cancers in men and women. With strong empirical evidence for both vaccine safety and efficacy, the HPV vaccines proved to protect against these HPV-related conditions over the last decade. But current HPV vaccination coverage is suboptimal in many countries. Even in Germany the absence of a school-based immunization program and the recommendation of a publicly funded girls-only HPV vaccination strategy are the main reasons for a female coverage rate under 40%, which does not achieve herd immunity for the boys. Therefore, the German immunization program urgently needs revision to fight an increasing number of young Germans missing out on the most important development in cancer prevention. Gender-neutral bundling of the HPV vaccine to other routinely recommended vaccines for preteens at one visit will have many advantages at the same time: Lowering the age of HPV vaccination to 9-12 years will improve the cost-effectiveness because a two-dose vaccination schedule is established on this score. Time-consuming and redundant explanations of the attending physician as well as parent's discussion on feeling stigmatized by the STI nature of HPV could be avoided in a combined vaccination setting. By expanding the HPV vaccination to boys, the resulting gender-neutral vaccination program can be cost-effective if all HPV-related diseases which can be prevented by vaccination are considered.