Herpes Testing Blog

Teresa Dillon was surprised to learn four years ago that what she deemed as an average sore throat actually was stage 2 cancer on her tonsil.

“People think the face of oral cancer is a 70-year-old man who’s been chewing tobacco and drinking whiskey all his life,” she said. “But the face of oral cancer now is — it’s me, a young woman, healthy, nonsmoking, fit.”

But what really shocked the waitress and then 38-year-old was that the human papillomavirus may have caused her illness, a illness that is often sexually transmitted.

“It was a virus that caused my tumor, the HPV virus, which just knocked me over,” Dillon said.

The HPV Cancer Connection

Dillon is part of a new trend that’s puzzling scientists. While most HPV infections clear on their own, there is an alarming surge of oral cancers linked to the virus.

Johns Hopkins researchers reported in a study published in February in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that between 1973 and 2004 the incidence of HPV-related oral cancers among people in their 40s nearly doubled. Today more than 34,000 people have oral cancer and 39 percent of those cases are related to HPV, according to data from the American Cancer Society.’

“These are patients that are young. They are in their 30s and 40s. They are nonsmokers, and they don’t drink alcohol excessively. And every time we look we are able to find HPV-16 in their tissue, in the biopsy specimen,” said Dr. Robert Haddad, a Dana Farber Cancer Institute head and neck surgeon.

High-risk HPV strains cause cancer by using special proteins to disrupt healthy cells. It makes cells unable to repair themselves and unable to control how they are duplicated.

The virus is transmitted by direct contact. You only get HPV in the location it attaches to, so it never travels through the bloodstream.

So just exactly how it gets in the mouth may stun you.

“There is absolutely a link between oral sex and oral cancer,” said Dr. Ellen Rome, of the Cleveland Clinic.

Although no proof exists yet, there is a chance that HPV can be transmitted mouth to mouth.

“We can’t rule out the virus could be transmitted in saliva by other types of contact — like for instance sharing a drink or sharing a spoon,” said Dr. Maura Gillison, of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

And once the virus is in your mouth, you can’t just wash it out. The only way to get rid of it is extensive drug treatment.

For them complete article, please refer to ABC News.

Reporting the results of a study published in the Lancet, GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) said Tuesday that its human papillomavirus vaccine Cervarix was effective not only against HPV strains most likely to cause cervical cancer but also other strains of the STD.

The subjects of the late-stage trial were 18,644 females ages 15 to 25. They included females with evidence of past or current HPV infection or high-grade Pap smear results, plus others with no evidence of current or previous HPV infection. Case subjects received Cervarix; control subjects received hepatitis A vaccine. The shots were administered at baseline, one month and six months.

The trial sought to test the efficacy of Cervarix against HPV types 16 and 18, the strains most likely to result in cervical cancer. Women who received all three doses of the HPV vaccine achieved 92.9 percent protection. Excluding some lesions not likely caused by HPV types 16 or 18, GSK said the vaccine provided 98.1 percent protection against those strains. In addition, the researchers noted evidence that Cervarix was protective against HPV types 31, 33, and 45. GSK said this was the first time any HPV vaccine evidenced significant protection against precancerous lesions caused by other HPV strains.

Cervarix is already in use in the European Union and many other nations. A decision by the Food and Drug Administration on whether to approve the vaccine for use in the United States could come by autumn.

The report, “Efficacy of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 AS04-Adjuvanted Vaccine Against Cervical Infection and Precancer Caused by Oncogenic HPV Types (PATRICIA): Final Analysis of a Double-Blind, Randomized Study in Young Women,” was published in the Lancet (07.07.09; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61248-4).

For the complete article, and more information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, please refer to http://www.cdcnpin.org/.

The World Health Organization has approved GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Cervarix, paving the way for UN agencies and partners to buy the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for poor countries worldwide.

Certain HPV strains are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Of the 280,000 cervical cancer deaths globally, more than 80 percent occur in developing countries. Screening and treatment programs have dramatically reduced the disease’s incidence in developed countries.

Last year, GAVI, formerly known as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, made purchasing cervical cancer vaccines for the world’s 73 poorest countries a priority. GAVI, comprising the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UN agencies, and the World Bank among others, is a major buyer of vaccines for the developing world.

Though it has not been approved for use in the United States or Japan, Cervarix is available in 97 other countries. The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide whether to approve Cervarix in the coming months. Currently, the only HPV vaccine available for the US market is Merck & Co.’s Gardasil. Cervarix has won more contracts from government health programs beyond the United States.

Both vaccines typically cost around $360 for a three-shot dose. It is not clear whether GSK will discount Cervarix for distribution in poor countries.

For the complete article, and more information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, please refer to http://www.cdcnpin.org/

The death of Farrah Fawcett after her long and courageous battle with anal cancer has saddened all of those who loved her.

Anal cancer is closely related to the human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV is the virus that causes genital warts and cervical cancer. This does not mean that Farrah had a history of sexual promiscuity; it just means that like many Americans, she was exposed to the virus at some point in her past.

Approximately between 45 and 90 percent of all caners of the anus are caused by the HPV virus. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. Approximately twenty five percent of females in the United States are infected with the HPV virus, however only a small fraction of these women will develop anal cancer.

For the complete article, see http://www.examiner.com/x-12106-Charleston-Family-Health-Examiner~y2009m6d28-More-on-Farrah-Fawcett-Anal-Cancer-and-HPV

Men who are circumcised are less likely to get sexually transmitted infections such as genital herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV), but not syphilis, according to a study of adult African men published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a previous study, the same research team found that adult circumcision could reduce the risk of HIV infection.

Efforts to increase the practice of male circumcision in areas with high rates of sexually transmitted infections, including Africa, could have a tremendous benefit, say the study’s authors. Genital herpes has been associated with an increased risk of HIV, and HPV can cause genital warts as well as a higher risk of anal, cervical (in women), and penile cancers.

Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults have had at least one HPV infection, according to an editorial by Matthew R. Golden, M.D., and Judith N. Wasserheit, M.D., both of the University of Washington. Although vaccines against some of the most dangerous HPV strains have been approved for girls ages 13 to 26, the vaccines are expensive and routine Pap tests are still necessary to pick up cervical cancers.

It’s not clear why circumcision may affect infection rates. But the study authors suggest that penile foreskin may provide a moist, favorable environment for herpes and HPV to survive and enter cells on the skin’s surface. Once the foreskin is surgically removed, the risk of infection may be reduced.

They also note, however, that male circumcision is not completely effective in preventing sexually transmitted infections. Safe sex practices, including consistent condom use, are still necessary to provide the best protection.

For the complete article, please see http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/healthmag.circumcision.hpv.herpes/index.html?iref=newssearch.