title: Nuns, warts, viruses, and cancer.
abstract: It has been known for more than 150 years that the risk of carcinoma of the uterine cervix correlates with the number of sexual partners. Laboratory and epidemiological evidence demonstrated that infection with certain human papillomavirus (HPV) types initiates the vast majority of, if not all, cervical cancer, as well as a substantial fraction of other cancers, including other anogenital cancer and oropharyngeal cancer. Pap smear testing resulted in a dramatic reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer in the developed world, and HPV vaccination has the potential to eradicate HPV-associated cancer worldwide and represents a major public health breakthrough. The major current challenge is to ensure that HPV vaccines are widely administered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DiMaio
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065831:Nuns; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines
keywords: cervical cancer; human papillomaviruses; vaccination