HPV common in US women
New findings by the CDC show that one in four US women between the ages of 14 and 59 may be infected with human papillomavirus (HPV)--a higher rate than previously estimated.
"HPV infection was most common among women aged 20-24. Nearly half of the women in that age group (49%) had HPV infection.
A third of women aged 14-24 had HPV infection. That's nearly 7.5 million -- far more than previous estimates that 4.6 million women in that age range had HPV."
The good news, though, is that the rate of women with strains of HPV linked to various cancers and genital warts was lower than previously estimated.
The new report is sure to fuel debate over the new anti-HPV vaccine, Gardasil.
Your Comments, Thoughts, Questions, Ideas
Explore
Recent comments
Subscribe
Connect with Science Buzz on Facebook and Twitter.
You can also subscribe to our RSS feed using any newsreader software.
This is a situation where parents should talk to their family doctor (whom they presumably trust), to get all of the information before making a decision. Sara of http://www.parentingwithsara.com just wrote a column about this, illustrating how parents can become confused when they lack information. cheers, tk
Post new comment