Could a Urine Test Effectively Detect HPV?

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London found that the human papillomavirus (HPV) could be detected via a simple urine test. As it stands, it's estimated that the most common sexually transmitted infection can be found in 21,000 females and 13,000 males annually in the United States, alone.

Though HPV simply can come and go without much harm in an infected individual, it can cause serious health complications in some. Cervical cancer remains the most common HPV-associated cancer among women, oropharyngeal cancers (cancers of the back of the throat, including the base of the tongue and tonsils) are the most common among men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Regular pap smears can help detect symptoms of a possible issue. However, this is only true for women. Furthermore, 33 percent of women under the age of 35 will refuse to even have the test done.

Many doctors believe that the invasive nature of the procedure is one of the key reasons that women will not undergo a pap smear. Unfortunately, HPV is responsible for more than 90 percent of anal and cervical cancers, as well as 70 percent of vaginal and vulvar cancers.

For men, it's responsible for nearly 60 percent of penile cancers, with recent studies showing that about 70 percent of cancers of the oropharynx may also be linked to HPV.

"Our study shows that testing urine for HPV has good accuracy when compared to testing samples taken from the cervix for HPV," added lead study author Dr. Neha Pathak, at women's health research unit at Queen Mary University of London, in a news release.

The researchers found that urine samples taken from women to detect HPV were 87 percent accurate, overall. The urine tests also identified 94 percent correct negative tests.

However, at this time, they concluded that even though urine tests have a high accuracy to detect HPV, more studies are required to understand how to clinically implement the test.