Not long ago, I saw a commercial that was more of a public service announcement. It showed several women commenting on how stunned they were to find out that cervical cancer is caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). Actually they called it "a virus" as if was something akin to the flu. They were encouraging women to "tell someone you care about" so they would know that this virus causes cancer.
I found this advertisment interesting because I have known for a long time that HPV is what causes cervical cancer. I don't know where I learned it, I probably read it online or in some brochure in a doctor's office, but I'm certain no doctor told me. I also thought it was interesting because these caring women did not make it clear that HPV is also an STD. The way they talked about it you'd think you could pick it up from someone sneezing on you. When I found out HPV was an STD, I thought it was interesting that I'd never been told that at an annual exam. I began to wonder why I diligently went year after year to take a test for a disease I knew I didn't have. "Well they check for other things too," I told myself - but Human Papilloma Virus - pap as in smear - it made me think that it was the main concern.
Even more recently, a top news story announced the development of a vaccine that can prevent HPV. The recommendation is that it be given to all girls when they are 11 or 12 years old. The television news story I saw kind of danced around the fact that it's a STD, but the radio story I heard ignored that fact altogether. Now don't get me wrong, I think that any vaccine that can ultimately prevent cancer is potentially a good thing. I just feel like HPV has been a basically preventable cancer causing disease all along - and no one did anything vocal to stop it. HPV is just one on a long list of reasons sex should be kept sacred to marriage, but that idea is so rejected by the mainstream it took cancer to get that fact even mumbled. And does the vaccine erase that? Obviously the threat of STDs does not keep people from promiscuous behavior.
I'll probably continue to go in for those annual visits (after all they do check for other things), but my feeling surrounding the whole thing are not particularly positive. A brief lesson in HPV should have been standard procedure at annual exams all along.
