Word: hpv
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Scientists have known for some time that virtually all cases of cervical cancer are triggered by a family of viruses called human papillomavirus, or HPV. Most women who become infected with HPV are able to shake off the virus and suffer no apparent long-term consequences to their health. But a few women develop a persistent infection that can, for reasons that are not entirely clear, eventually lead to cancerous changes in the cervix. (One thing we do know: the risk of developing cervical cancer increases dramatically for women who have HPV and smoke...
...researchers at the Digene Corp. of Beltsville, Md., have developed a test that detects an active HPV infection by looking for its genetic by-products in the vagina. The HPV test was better than the standard Pap test at finding cervical cancer at any stage, according to two studies published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association. So far, so good. Unfortunately, the test's false-positive rate--how often it indicated that there was a problem when none existed--was almost twice as high as that for the Pap smear. In these cases, a biopsy...
Complicating matters is the fact that HPV is a very common infection. In some parts of the U.S. as many as half of all women under age 35 have an active case. Yet 99 out of 100 women who are HPV-positive will never get cervical cancer, estimates Dr. Joanna Cain, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., and vice president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "If those 99 women live their lives as if they're going to develop cancer," she says...
...present, the HPV test is approved in the U.S. only to help resolve ambiguous results from a Pap-smear test. Many gynecologists believe that HPV will eventually replace the Pap. But they're not willing to abandon it without a lot more detailed information--and neither should...
...more information on cervical cancer and HPV, visit time.com/personal You can e-mail Christine at gorman@time.com