New Study Stirs Debate over Mandatory Cervical Cancer Vaccination

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Ever since a federal advisory panel recommended vaccinating young girls against a virus associated with cervical cancer, the debate has grown in a number of states about whether the vaccine should be mandatory.

Now, there are new findings about the prevalence of the virus in the U.S. population that may feed into that debate. For some background, we begin with our health correspondent, Susan Dentzer.

Susan, what exactly does this study being released today say about the prevalence of this virus, called HPV?

SUSAN DENTZER, NewsHour Health Correspondent:

Well, HPV, human papilloma virus, is actually a family of viruses, more than 100 of them, which cause some very common things, like warts on your hands.

But there's a group of about 30 of these HPV viruses that are sexually transmitted, transmitted through sex either male to female, female to female, or even male to male. And those can include some that lead to such conditions as genital warts. There are about 20 viruses that are considered high risk and then an additional dozen or so that actually are linked to cervical cancer.

What this study did today — that was announced today did was look at those sexually transmitted HPV viruses, that group of roughly 30 sexually transmitted viruses, and said, how prevalent are these among women aged 14 to 59? It was the largest group of women that had ever been looked at.

What the study said was that, in that group of women, these sexually transmitted infections are about one in every four women, or about 25 million women overall, and that the rate of high-risk types of infections, the high-risk viruses, is as high as one in seven.

And for the two particular types of HPV viruses that have been linked to cervical cancer, 70 percent of cervical cancers, the rate is about one in 50.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

One in 50. Is this what the researchers expected to find?

SUSAN DENTZER:

More or less. There was an earlier study that looked just at younger women, adolescent women, and the prevalence rates there were lower. But, more or less, the researchers said this is about what they expected to find, in that it shows that these infections are common, they're commonplace among women.

This is prevalence, which means it's just a point in time. If you looked at the cumulative infections over a long period of time in all women, the rates would be higher.

But they also went on to say that the rate of infections that are linked to the cervical cancer are, as they used in quotes in the study, put it in quotes, "relatively low."

JUDY WOODRUFF:

And, just to be clear, how is the virus transmitted?

SUSAN DENTZER:

Again, the sexually transmitted HPV viruses are transmitted through unprotected sex. Again, that can be female to female, female to male, male to female, or male to male.