Quote:
Originally Posted by LongIsland
FROM THE CDC:
*Most women who develop invasive cervical cancer have not had regular cervical cancer screening.
*Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infection in women, especially if they are screened for cancer regularly with Pap tests and have appropriate follow-up of abnormalities.
*But over the last 40 years, widespread cervical cancer screening using the Pap test and treatment of pre-cancerous cervical abnormalities have resulted in a marked reduction in the incidence of and mortality due to cervical cancer in the U.S. (70%)
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I wanted to include a link for the statement by CDC, which came from a report to congress in 2004,
http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/2004HPV%20Report.pdf
I will be adding this to my HPV word doc, where I'm trying to save all related info.
Thanks for posting this statement, only took a few seconds to find the link via a google search.
Oh, and here are just some comments from the report in the above link,
************************************************** *
Most infections cause no clinical problems and go away on their own without treatment.
Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infection in women, especially if they are screened for cancer regularly with Pap tests and have
appropriate follow-up of abnormalities.
If detected early and managed promptly, survival rates for cervical cancer are over 90%.
Because genital HPV infection is most common in men and women who have had multiple sex partners, abstaining from sexual activity (i.e. refraining from any genital contact with another individual) is the surest way to prevent infection.
There is evidence that indicates that the use of condoms may reduce the risk of cervical cancer.
• In the future, receiving a safe and effective HPV vaccine to help prevent genital HPV infection as well as the HPV-associated diseases of genital warts and cervical cancer would be an important prevention measure. However, an effective HPV vaccine would not replace other prevention strategies.
Although the majority of infections cause no symptoms and are self-limited, genital HPV is of public health concern because persistent infection with certain types can cause cervical cancer in women.
Most genital infections with either high-risk or low-risk HPV types go away on their own, without clinical consequences.
Cervical cancer is relatively uncommon in the United States because widespread cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) testing can detect precancerous lesions before they develop into cancer.
While infection with high-risk types appears to be “necessary” for the development of cervical cancer, it is not “sufficient” because cancer does not develop in the vast majority of women with HPV infection (2;3). Other co-factors appear to be necessary for the development of cervical cancer (described in Natural History of Genital HPV Infection, page 10).
Accurately assessing the extent of genital HPV infection in the U.S. population has been difficult for many reasons. Data on prevalence and incidence of HPV infection are limited because there is no routine screening for HPV infection, and it is often unclear whether a newly diagnosed infection is recently acquired or longstanding. Neither HPV infection nor genital warts are routinely reported to state health departments
The risk factors consistently associated with HPV infection in women are young age (age less than 25 years) and sexual behavior, specifically number of sex partners, as described below (Transmission and Prevention of Genital HPV, page 11).
The prevalence of genital HPV infection in men is more difficult to assess because it is not clear which are the optimal anatomic sites or specimens to test.
Most published studies have been conducted outside the United States, in men attending STD or university clinics, or among male partners of women with HPV infection.
Rates of cervical cancer have fallen by approximately 75% since the introduction of Pap testing programs.
Natural History of Genital HPV Infection
Most HPV infections are transient and asymptomatic, causing no clinical problems. Studies have shown that 70% of new HPV infections clear within one year, and as many as 91% clear within two years (28;33;67;68). The median duration of new infections is typically eight months (28;67). HPV-16 is more likely to persist than other HPV types (28); however, most HPV-16 infections become undetectable within two years (28). Factors associated with persistence
include older age, high-risk HPV types, infection with multiple HPV types, and immune suppression (69;70). The gradual development of an effective immune response is thought to be the likely mechanism for HPV DNA clearance.
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