Every two hours a woman in Colombia dies from cervical cancer. more than 80% of cases is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), whose spread occurs, especially through sexual contact.
It is estimated that 50% of people with sexual experiences will have the virus at some point in their lives. And about 22% of women; between 15 and 65 years of age, is infected with strains of the virus, responsible for causing cervical cancer, the most frequent.
“Anyone who has genital contact with another person can have the virus. Both men and women can catch it and transmit it without realizing it,” says the doctor. pediatrician of Medical Center.
“A person – points out the specialist – can have the virus for many years without knowing it, because they may not present symptoms.” According to World Health Organization, WHO, In Latin America, 95,000 cases are diagnosed each year. 40 thousand women die in this same period.
One of the most important epidemiological studies in Europe, in which Nubia Muñoz, a doctor from Cali, participated, established that at least 97% of cases of uterine cancer are due to HPV, and since then it has been possible to establish a cause-effect relationship of practically The 100%. (The doctor from Cali was promoted by the European scientific community for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008).
The study not only led the scientific community to warn and accept that HPV is not only a pandemic that has advanced silently, until it took shape in the form of a “global disaster.”
Prevention, with the vaccine, and early diagnosis remain the only weapons.
A simple well-known pap smear has so far been the most effective in the fight against the disease, as it detects morphologically abnormal cells, depending on the skill and eye of the pathologist. In its half century of existence, it has saved millions of lives.
“Today there are molecular biology techniques that tell you whether or not there is HPV, and what type, in any sample of cervical cells. This makes it possible to identify and treat pre-cancer lesions in time,” says Dr. Reina.
These tests – explains the doctor – avoid overdiagnosis and unjustified drastic treatments, which, in addition to being expensive, produce side effects and physical and emotional damage for women.”
No.or it is a new virus (the first cases were described in 1930) and its ignorance is due to the fact that it only gained importance in recent years, since various studies associated it with cervical cancer.
Likewise, as explained by the specialist of the Medical Centermost people do not have symptoms and, in some cases, do not even know that they had it at some point, since it can disappear (without causing damage) due to the action of the immune system.
Although anyone can get HPV, those who have had sex at an earlier age, have multiple partners, or one partner has had multiple partners are more likely.
There are many types of HPV and not all of them can be malignant. The most lethal can cause problems such as genital warts and cervical cancer. Some studies indicate that types 16 and 18 are responsible for 70% of cervical cancer cases. Types 6 and 11 are the cause of 90% of genital warts.
Papilloma virus infection is considered sexually or venereally transmitted and its manifestation is mostly in women. It reaches the man through sexual contact with an infected partner and produces condylomas or warts that resemble small clusters of grapes located in the balonopreputial groove (below the glans or “head” of the penis).
According to the doctor, Queen, who from Cali, Colombia, was part of the group of scientists who researched the first vaccine, all women should have a Pap smear, the test to detect cell changes in the lining of the cervix caused by HPV. “The test allows early diagnosis of any precancerous lesion,” emphasizes the specialist.
“Prevention – says Dr. Reina – must be paramount and the further away you are from the risk factors, the lower the chances of contracting the virus.” (See box: “Risk factor’s”)
Indeed, according to specialists, the key is to reduce the number of partners, choose the one that has not had many sexual partners, because the less you have had (your partner or partner) there are less chances of getting infected with HPV. The condom serves as protection against the virus, although various studies indicate that it can attack the areas that the condom does not cover.
RISK FACTOR’S
Cervical cancer risk factors are related to characteristics of both the virus and the host:
- Multiple sexual partners.
- A male partner with many present or past sexual partners.
- Early age at first sexual intercourse.
- High number of deliveries.
- Persistent infection with a high-risk HPV (such as HPV 16 or 18).
- Use of oral contraceptives.