You kids today and your HPV, I just don’t know. (Shakes cane in air.)
They made the connection between HPV and cancer the year I got married, then they started to pay closer attention, then it was all over the news, and then there was a vaccine.
This week I learned a horrifying statistic from the World Health Organization: 1 in 3 men over the age of 15 is infected with HPV.
I had heard a variety of other numbers, some even saying 80% of sexually active people had HPV. (I don’t know if that number counts everything from the wart HPV to the cancer HPV.)
I did wonder: do I count as a sexually active woman? I bet I am not. I bet I’ve aged out. I do have a wart on the side of my right hand, though. That led me down an alley of anxiety until I searched my medical records to see if I’d been tested.
Whew, I was, in 2019. Clear from all the high-risk types.
I am still surprisingly ignorant about something so prevalent.
4 responses to “TWIL: HPV”
So are most people, unfortunately!
KC – Well, with no noticeable symptoms, I can see that easily happening.
Well. I mean. Genital warts, for some. (and then cervical cancer – or cancer in, ahem, other locations penises sometimes go – for others)
Now wondering what the best way, for actually communicating with the public, would be for getting health messages across to Average Population Members. A one-time infodump would be daunting and cause lots of things to get lost… maybe a hilarious and always above-average relevance once-weekly email or something?
KC – Oh, now I remember when Michael Douglas made his contribution. That got some attention.