Sexual behaviour linked to HPV virus
Hot on the heels of the previous article on HPV vaccinations for teenagers, a multitude of information about the virus and cervical cancer is hitting the public awareness. Every year around 4,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer, of whom, around 1,200 die from the disease. Generally, only 2 out of every 1,000 cancers diagnosed in women are cervical cancers, but it is the second most common cancer in women under the age of 35.
Cervical cancer is most commonly spread through the human papilloma virus, or HPV - generally known as the wart virus. HPVs are a group of more than 100 different viruses and they are given numbers to distinguish them. In this group, only 13 HPVs are capable of causing cancer and only five types commonly do so. In 70 to 80 per cent of cases of cervical cancer there is an association with an infection from HPV 16 and 18.
The viruses can be spread through any skin-to-skin contact, but when they affect the cervix it is spread through sexual intercourse. Evidence shows that as much as 80 per cent of women will contract some form of the virus before the age of 50, but in many cases the infection will clear up on its own.
A woman’s sexual behaviour may determine how much she is at risk from HPV. Early infection, commonly due to having sex at an early age, is shown to increase the likelihood of persistent infection and possible malignancy. If a woman is over 30 years old, she is also at a higher risk if HPV cultures remain in her cervix, although women of this age are less likely to contract the virus.
The number of sexual partners and sexual histories of those partners are also linked to the risk of HPV, as well as having sex with uncircumcised males as they are thought to be more likely to harbour the virus. Women who smoke and contract the HPV virus are also twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than a non-smoker.
HPV can be present for years with no symptoms and the viruses do not always cause obvious symptoms such as warts, so a person can have the infection and unknowingly pass it on. Recent studies have also shown that condoms do not completely protect against HPV as the virus can be spread through skin-to-skin contact with any infected area of the body.
The virus can also lay dormant for many years before it comes active, with the most common age of deaths due to the cancer in the early fifties. With girls becoming sexually active at a much younger age, the early vaccination scheme recently introduced by the Government is essential to cut the death rate for this disease.
Many experts argue that the programme should be extended to pre-pubescent boys, as well as girls, as the same types of HPV virus that cause cervical cancer are also linked to many cases of penile cancer in men, and to oral and anal cancer in both sexes.
The NHS are also considering introducing HPV testing for women with borderline or abnormal smears.
Cancer organisations Cancer Help and Cancer.org have more information about the HPV virus and Cervical Cancer.
Cervical cancer is most commonly spread through the human papilloma virus, or HPV - generally known as the wart virus. HPVs are a group of more than 100 different viruses and they are given numbers to distinguish them. In this group, only 13 HPVs are capable of causing cancer and only five types commonly do so. In 70 to 80 per cent of cases of cervical cancer there is an association with an infection from HPV 16 and 18.
The viruses can be spread through any skin-to-skin contact, but when they affect the cervix it is spread through sexual intercourse. Evidence shows that as much as 80 per cent of women will contract some form of the virus before the age of 50, but in many cases the infection will clear up on its own.
A woman’s sexual behaviour may determine how much she is at risk from HPV. Early infection, commonly due to having sex at an early age, is shown to increase the likelihood of persistent infection and possible malignancy. If a woman is over 30 years old, she is also at a higher risk if HPV cultures remain in her cervix, although women of this age are less likely to contract the virus.
The number of sexual partners and sexual histories of those partners are also linked to the risk of HPV, as well as having sex with uncircumcised males as they are thought to be more likely to harbour the virus. Women who smoke and contract the HPV virus are also twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than a non-smoker.
HPV can be present for years with no symptoms and the viruses do not always cause obvious symptoms such as warts, so a person can have the infection and unknowingly pass it on. Recent studies have also shown that condoms do not completely protect against HPV as the virus can be spread through skin-to-skin contact with any infected area of the body.
The virus can also lay dormant for many years before it comes active, with the most common age of deaths due to the cancer in the early fifties. With girls becoming sexually active at a much younger age, the early vaccination scheme recently introduced by the Government is essential to cut the death rate for this disease.
Many experts argue that the programme should be extended to pre-pubescent boys, as well as girls, as the same types of HPV virus that cause cervical cancer are also linked to many cases of penile cancer in men, and to oral and anal cancer in both sexes.
The NHS are also considering introducing HPV testing for women with borderline or abnormal smears.
Cancer organisations Cancer Help and Cancer.org have more information about the HPV virus and Cervical Cancer.
Labels: health news
Posted by Health Insurance News at 16:42
