Wednesday February 3, 2010
Study: 56% of Young Adults in a New Sexual Relationship Infected with HPV
By John-Henry Westen
MONTREAL, February 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – If ever there was a reason for parents to warn their teens off sexual encounters before marriage, a recent study has found it. The groundbreaking study of couples found more than half (56 per cent) of young adults in a new sexual relationship were infected with the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV).
HPV, a virus which condoms cannot protect against, is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Of those infected with HPV, nearly half (44 per cent) were infected with an HPV type that causes cancer.
The study, led by Professor Eduardo Franco, Director of McGill University’s Cancer Epidemiology Unit, in collaboration with a team of colleagues from McGill and Université de Montréal/Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), is the first large-scale study of HPV infection among couples early in their sexual relationships when transmission is most likely.
The results, published in the January 2010 issues of Epidemiology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, also indicate there is a high probability of HPV transmission between partners. When one partner had HPV, the researchers observed that in 42 per cent of couples, the other partner also had the infection.
Moreover, the researchers found that the presence of HPV in one partner was the strongest predictor of finding the same HPV type in the other partner. If one partner was infected with HPV, the other partner’s chance of also being infected with the same HPV type increased over 50 times.
In addition to cervical cancer, HPV causes other cancers, including those of the vulva, vagina, anus, and penis. Although HPV viruses are very common – more than 70 per cent of women and men will have this type of infection at some point – the vast majority of infections are asymptomatic and last no more than one or two years. Even though fewer than 1 per cent of women who have HPV will get cervical cancer, the numbers remain alarming.
While abstinence before marriage is the only sure way to avoid infection, drug companies have developed a controversial HPV vaccine which has been heavily pushed by governments. The vaccine – Gardasil – was hastily developed and has been plagued with reports of health hazards, and has been associated with numerous death.
A government watchdog organization called Judicial Watch obtained information on Gardasil from Freedom of Information requests in 2007 and 2008 finding a total of 47 deaths and thousands of serious adverse effects associated with the vaccine.