Trenton (US): For the first time, scientists have proof that condoms offer women protection against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
A three-year study of female college students — all virgins at the start — found that women whose partners always wore a condom during sex were 70 per cent less likely to become infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) than those whose partners used protection less than 5 per cent of the time.
"That's pretty awesome. There aren't too many times when you can have an intervention that would offer so much protection," infectious-disease specialist, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Dr Patricia Kloser said.
Condoms have been shown convincingly to prevent pregnancy and AIDS. But conservatives who want to see abstinence taught in schools have long argued that condoms do not protect well against diseases such as HPV.
It has been indicated that men can spread the virus to women from sores on their genitals outside the area covered by a condom.
However, researchers at the University of Washington found that the chances of HPV being spread that way appear to be small.
HPV, which can cause cervical cancer, genital warts and vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers, is the most common sexually transmitted disease, infecting about 80 per cent of young women within five years of becoming sexually active.
An estimated 630 million people worldwide are infected.
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