Reply #22: I'm not sure where you got the 4000 figure from, but the National Cancer Institute says

[ehrnst]

it's much higher than that.

Perhaps you have misread the figures - 4000 DEATHS have occured from HPV related cervical cancers, not 4000 instances of Cancer from HPV.

"Persistent HPV infections are now recognized as the cause of essentially all cervical cancers, as well as most cases of anal cancer. In 2011, more than 12,000 women in the United States are expected to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and more than 4,000 are expected to die from it (2). Cervical cancer is diagnosed in nearly half a million women each year worldwide, claiming a quarter of a million lives annually."

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/HPV

This is not taking into account oral or anal cancers, or deaths from those.

So, now you have the correct numbers, does that change your mind about preventing a virus that could cause cancer?

Me and my sister (and other women that I know) have dealt with expensive and invasive treatments for HPV related cervical dysplasia. We didn't get all the way to full blown cancer, so we're not included in that cancer statistic. My Gyn tells me that a hysterectomy might be in my future if it flares up again more aggressively. So - one does not need to be included in cancer statistics to be profoundly affected by HPV.


And no, recommending a vaccine against a virus that is very, very widespread is not the same as turning people into porcupines. There is a continuum.