One in 4 Women have HPV

All of this is in the headlines because of the new hpv vaccine, Gardasil. Many states are trying to make it a mandatory vaccine for little girls to get into school. You are fine if you get regular pap smears, they test you there. Cervical Cancer mortality has dropped since pap smears became routine. The vaccine only covers 4 strains of hpv, there are 100. Plus no vaccine is 100% effective, this is just all scare tactics to try to get women and little girls vaccinated.

According to the CDC, there are many types of HPV virus and all those types can cause mild PAP test abnormalities, which have no serious consequences. But about 10 of the 30 types of HPV can lead in rare cases to cervical cancer. The research has shown in about 90% of women who contract HPV that they virus becomes undetectable in about 2 years. In the other 10% can have a persistent infection and these are the ones who are at high risk for cervical cancer. There is now a vaccine you can get to avoid contracting HPV. Men can actually contract and pass on HPV, but they have no symptoms or health problems so they may never know they have it. Most women never have any health problems associated with it and may never know they have it. If you want to learn more about HPV or the HPV vaccine you can visit the CDC site at http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STD-HPV.htm