Word: papillomaviruses
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...England Medical Center in Boston. "If it weren't for AIDS, stories about it would be on the front page of every newspaper." The doctor is referring to a fast-spreading blight that afflicts millions of Americans, including more and more teenage girls. Caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), it is sexually transmitted, sometimes painful and often incurable. Its chief symptom in both men and women is genital warts, which frequently occur after infection...
Recent research also shows a link between papillomavirus and cervical cancer, which annually strikes 15,000 women in the U.S. The human papillomavirus (HPV) family is a large one, including 46 types capable of causing everything from common plantar warts (HPV-1 and 4) to choking growths in the throat (HPV-11) to a bizarre warty rash found almost exclusively on the hands of butchers and meat handlers (HPV-7). So far, six types of HPV, all responsible for benign genital lesions, have also been associated with malignant cervical growths. Says Dr. Harald zur Hausen of the German Cancer Research...
Several such events or "co-factors" have been suggested in the papillomavirus-cervical cancer connection. They include smoking (which appears to increase risk of this cancer fourfold), poor hygiene and concurrent infection with the herpes simplex virus type 2. Says Dr. Carlos Lopez of the Centers for Disease Control: "Maybe one virus is the instigator and the other is the promoter...