More Adults Present a High Risk of Human Papillomavirus

A new study has shown that in the US 1 out of 5 adults indicates a high-risk Human Papillomavirus. Based on the new report developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this type of HPV can cause cancer. On April 6, the CDC released the new report which offers the latest national data on genital and oral Human Papillomavirus. This is the most commonly sexually contracted illness in the US, being spread among adults with ages between 18 and 59.

Health officials should raise awareness regarding the prevalence of this virus

The CDC report primarily examined those adults who were not advised to get the HPV vaccine. Approximately 80 million United States citizens are currently infected with at least one of the many types of HPV. This infection usually spreads through oral, vaginal and anal sex with some who got already infected. Some particular kinds of HPV can cause genital warts, but, nevertheless, these are considered low-risk infections.

Other HPV types are also prone to cause cancer in particular areas of the body after being infected, like genitals or throat cancer which are considered to be high-risk. Specialists did not develop a treatment for the virus in itself, but some types of HPV tend to disappear on their own after a while. Nevertheless, researchers highlight the fact that there are treatments for health issues which can be caused by HPV, like cervical cancer and genital warts.

A high number of US adults are infected with high-risk Human Papillomavirus

From 2013 to 2014, the prevalence of high-risk Human Papillomavirus among adults with ages between 18 and 59 was somewhere between 22.7% and 25.1% for men and 20.4% for women. Geraldine McQuillan, who is the lead author of the study and a senior infectious disease epidemiologist with the CDC, stated that researchers were shocked to see the high number of adults which have high-risk genital Human Papillomavirus.

Previous studies revealed that about 15.2% of adult women were diagnosed with high-risk HPV. Starting with 2013 and until 2014, 42.5% of adults aged 18-59 had genital HPV. The rates for Human Papillomavirus were higher in males (42.2%) compared to females (39.9%). The highest rates of genital HPV were recorded among non-Hispanic black adults.

McQuillan argued that the next thing specialists should do is to raise awareness of the high prevalence of this dangerous, high-risk virus in the US population to make individuals realize that this is a dramatic issue and their children need to be vaccinated before becoming sexually active.

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