We will discuss two different aspects of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Part 1: The Biology of Viral Clearance.

Clearance of anogenital and oropharyngeal HPV infections is attributed primarily to a successful adaptive immune response. To date, little attention has been paid to the potential role of stochastic cell dynamics in the time it takes to clear an HPV infection. We combine mechanistic mathematical models at the cellular level with epidemiological data at the population level to disentangle the respective roles of immune capacity and cell dynamics in the clearing mechanism.

Part 2: Nonlinear Cost Curves and Optimal Vaccination Strategies.

The effectiveness of vaccinating males against HPV remains a controversial subject. Many existing studies conclude that increasing female coverage is more effective than diverting resources into male vaccination. Several recent studies on HPV immunization provide evidence for the fact that marginal vaccination costs increase with coverage. We develop a stochastic agent-based modeling framework to revisit the male vaccination debate in light of these new findings. Within this framework, we assess the impact of coverage-dependent marginal costs of vaccine distribution on optimal immunization strategies against HPV.