The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has become so widespread that there are doctors who compare it to the common cold. While some forms cause cervical cancer, others result in genital warts. According to the American Cancer Society: In the United States, over 6 million people (men and women) get an HPV infection every year. Almost half of the infections are in people between 15 and 25 years of age. Read more

A weekend New York Times article is still on my mind. It alerted readers to the possibility of Gardasil — the much talked about HPV vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer — being administered to young boys as further protection for females. It's widely known that men can carry the virus without any knowledge of it, leading to easy and inadvertent exposure to their partners. According Read more

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but a new study shows that stress could play a role in causing cervical cancer. HPV, the sexually transmitted STI that can cause genital warts, is also a main cause of cervical cancer. A good percentage of sexually active women will get HPV sometime in their lives, but 90 percent will get rid of the virus without it causing any problems. For the other 10 Read more

Knowing that so many of you take birth control pills, I thought you'd want to hear the latest news. A recent British study shows that when you take oral contraceptives, you are slightly increasing your risk for developing cervical cancer. The good news is that when you stop taking the pill, after ten years that small risk disappears. This study showed that out of 1,000 women who didn't use the Read more

Have you heard about Gardasil? It's a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, but it only protects you against the type that is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), the same HPV that causes genital warts. First off, let me tell you a little bit about HPV. It's an STI that can be transmitted through vaginal, anal, or oral sex. It can manifest itself in flesh-colored warts that show up one to Read more

Women have been getting Pap tests for over 60 years to test for cervical cancer. Now two studies show that the test that detects HPV, a virus that can cause certain types of cervical cancer, may be far more effective at catching malignancies. One of the studies tested more than 10,000 women between the ages of 30 and 69. The HPV test detected 94.6% of the abnormal growths that lead to cervical Read more

It is easy to take your annual gyno exam for granted. It is one of those preventive measures you suffer through once a year. We are really lucky to have such easy access to the diagnostic pap smear since cervical cancer, caused by a sexually transmitted virus, is the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide! The majority of the 250,000 annual deaths worldwide occur in poor nations, Read more

Wow - am I glad I have TiVo because I had to rewind this one. Did I hear correct? A commercial advertising a vaccine for cervical cancer? Yup. It's true. And being vaccinated with Gardasil could also help protect you against most cases of genital warts. Of course there's a disclaimer that says, "Gardasil may not fully protect everyone and does not prevent all types of cervical cancer, so it Read more