NEWS
Women Unaware of Viral Link to Cervical Cancer
Mon August 04, 2003 07:03 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Many women are unaware that a virus is the main cause of cervical cancer or that birth control pills offer no protection against it, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is linked with about 95 percent of cervical cancer cases and is one of the most common causes worldwide of sexually transmitted disease.
Fewer than a third of the more than 1,000 women questioned in the survey at a London clinic over 15 months had ever heard of HPV. Less than half knew it was linked to cancer.
Those that did were older women who had had an abnormal cervical smear. The average age of the respondents was 30.
"In this relatively well-educated sample, awareness and knowledge of HPV were poor," Jo Waller of the University of London said in a report in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Almost all women with cervical cancer have HPV, but studies have shown that only a small percentage with HPV develop cervical cancer.
HPV also causes genital warts, which are the most easily recognized sign of an HPV infection. But only a third of the women questioned knew that genital warts did not cause cervical cancer.
"Public education is urgently needed so that women participating in cervical cancer screening are fully informed about the meaning of their results," Waller added.

© Speak Out Terms of use