Infection Protection
A strong immune system and lifestyle changes can help control HPV-and keep cervical cancer at bay.
10/2007
Thirty years ago, very few Americans had heard of human papillomavirus (HPV). If you were unlucky enough to have this sexually transmitted virus (and the warts-raised, cauliflower-shaped lesions-that sometimes accompany it), you probably kept the news to yourself. Today, although no one is shouting her diagnosis from the rooftops, we know much more about the virus and how to prevent and treat it.
Who has itAccording to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25 million women have HPV, making it the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Though no one knows exactly how many men carry the virus-they have no regular screening test -the CDC estimates that more than half of sexually active men will be infected with HPV at some point. And the virus can be deadly: It is the cause of nearly all cervical cancers. (Significantly, the high-risk strains do not cause warts. ) Although the pharmaceutical company Merck has created a new cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, it is effective only against certain strains of HPV. Fortunately, natural treatments and good nutrition, especially, can make a difference, says Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., a professor who led a study of women with high-risk strains of HPV that was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in 2003. "Although a woman with a persistent HPV infection has a much greater risk of developing cervical cancer, what we found is that if you're not eating a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, you're at risk," she says. How it's transmitted
HPV is highly contagious-unlike the AIDS virus, it is not spread through bodily fluids but by direct skin-to-skin contact with someone who has it. The virus can lodge anywhere in the genital areas of both men and women , which is why condoms are only partially effective against it. And though HPV is usually spread through vaginal or anal sex, it can also be transmitted via oral sex and has been linked to oral cancers.
How to detect it
Because it's usually asymptomatic
in men and women, HPV is difficult
to detect and easy to transmit
unknowingly. One study conducted
by the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID) found that almost half of
women infected with HPV had no
obvious symptoms such as genital
warts. Although warts can be
removed with acid or a laser, these
procedures don't get rid of the virus,
which can remain in the tissue
and re-emerge months or even
years later.
