Some women's health advocates believe increased federal spending would boost backing for the new tests. While more Americans die from AIDS each year than from sexually transmitted diseases, CDC officials say STDs affect many millions more people and cost huge sums to treat. Genital contact is HPV's primary route of infection, and single younger people with multiple sexual partners are most at risk. Men with HPV typically show few ill effects, but the virus has been connected to rare cases of penile cancer. Researchers are trying to determine whether condoms offer any protection, although it's known the virus is transmitted through the skin rather than bodily fluids.
Human papilloma is a particularly virulent virus.
At the University of Washington, researchers have tracked 600 young women through their college years, starting in 1991, and found that 20 percent contracted HPV after their first sexual encounter. More than 90 percent of those infected women picked up another HPV strain within two years. Most HPV is diagnosed before it becomes cancerous, usually due to genital warts or abnormal Pap smears. Since the link to cervical cancer is so strong, doctors who find HPV routinely take a closer look at the vagina and cervix. If a biopsy shows the abnormal cells are likely to become cancerous, women are often advised to have the lining of their cervix removed, usually done with lasers or by freezing.