According to the CDC, 79 million people in the US alone are infected with HPV. It is sexually transmitted by skin to skin contact and affects both men and women. Despite its numbers, sexually active women under 25 are most likely to contract this infection. Generally, HPV infections are cleared out by the body’s immune system which does not cause many complications and can pass quickly. The biggest problem appears when these infections are not cleared by the immune system. HPV is not cancer itself but can lead to the development of cancer, most importantly cervical cancer and oropharyngeal cancer. It can also lead to cancer of the vagina, penis, and anal cancer in both sexes. Cervical cancer is a huge risk for women and can be life threatening if not caught early enough. Even in first-world countries, HPV that it left unchecked has significant mortality rates. Another unfortunate concurrence of this infection is that there are no truly effective means for preventing transmission nor curing the clinical manifestations. Recent estimates suggest that 6.2 million new infections occur in the US annually and those numbers have not changed much recently. The CDC suggests that all sexually active people will acquire HPV in some form in their life which has the possibility of becoming clinical and resulting in serious consequences. It is because of these statistics that I believe HPV should be taught about in class. Its global spread and indiscriminate infection rates truly show how much of a problem this infection is. It is imperative that people understand how this virus works, what they can do to protect themselves, and what warning signs to look for if the infection becomes clinical.
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