A common ingredient found in over-the-counter vaginal spermicides may ease the transmission of human papillomavirus or HPV infection, at least in animals, according to a new study.

HPV infection causes genital warts and the majority of cervical cancers.

“Spermicides containing nonoxynol-9 may enhance the ability of the HPV to take hold in the genital tract, at least in animals,” says researchers at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.  The study appears in the July issue of Nature Medicine.  Here is the original paper.

As this study was not in humans, it needs further research.   Nonoxynol-9 is found in lubricants, contraceptive jellies and creams, and other birth control products. In recent years, its use has been found in some studies to boost the risk of transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.