One in four American women infected with cervical cancer virus, study reveals

This is a major concern for about 24.9 million women in the United States.

A recent study revealed that one in four women ages 14 to 59 are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is associated with cervical cancer and genital warts.

Published in the Journal of the American Medican Association (February 28 issue), the research by Eileen Dunne of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 1921 women and found that HPV was most prevalent in these age ranges

• 45% in young women ages 20 to 24 (highest group)
• 27% in women ages 25 to 39
• 25% in teenage girls age 14 to 19
• 25% in middle age women ages 40 to 49

Major independent risk factors included number of sex partners in the last year, number of lifetime sex partners and marital status. According to Dr. Dunne, this assessment only measures current infection and does not indicate past exposure to HPV and certainly underestimastes cummulative incidence.

On the vaccine side, only about 3.1 million females have positive immunity for HPV. This study allowed the first measurement of a baseline estimate for the wide-scale impact of the vaccine for reducing infection.

[Read more at MedPageToday]

Tags: virus, viral disease, illness, health, medicine, human papilloma virus, cervical cancer