A recent case of a baby with genital warts can be explained by the transmission of human papillomavirus (HPV) from parents’ saliva to damaged skin areas, Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy director-general Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) said yesterday.
“Genital warts are not necessarily passed on through sexual behavior,” said Lee, who is a pediatrician at National Taiwan University Hospital.
The infant was less than three months old and could not have been infected through sexual behavior, he said.
A US study suggested that HPV is found in more than 10 percent of men’s saliva and in about 5 to 6 percent of women’s saliva, he said.
If the parents’ saliva contains HPV and droplets fell onto the infant’s body while they had diaper rash or atopic dermatitis, the virus can enter the body through the lesions, causing genital warts or increased risk of cervical cancer, he said.
There is also increased risk of HPV infection when using swimming pools and bathrooms, so in addition to practicing safe sex and receiving regular Pap smears for cervical cancer screening, people should consider getting vaccinated against HPV, he said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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