User talk:Wilka heita

--Wilka heita (talk) 12:43, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

More men have oral cancer virus than women

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus from papillomavirus family that is capable of infecting humans. Like all papillomaviruses, HPVs establish productive infections only in keratinocytes of the skin or mucous membranes. While the majority of the nearly 200 known types of HPV cause no symptoms in most people, some types can cause warts (verrucae), while others can, in a minority of cases , lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva ,vagina, and anus(in women) or cancers of the anus and penis (in men). It can also cause cancers of the head and neck (tongue, tonsils and throat). Recently, HPV has been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Pro's

There is no treatment for the virus itself, but there are treatments for the diseases that HPV can cause: Visible genital warts can be removed by the patient him or herself with prescribed medications. They can also be treated by a health care provider. Some people choose not to treat warts, but to see if they disappear on their own. No one treatment is better than another. Cervical cancer is most treatable when it is diagnosed and treated early. But women who get routine Pap tests and follow up as needed can identify problems before cancer develops. Prevention is always better than treatment. Vaccine efficacy against oral HPV infection is unknown, and therefore vaccination cannot currently be recommended for the primary prevention of orpharyngeal cancer. Given an analysis of US cancer registry data recently projected that the number of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers diagnosed each year will surpass that of invasive cervical cancers by the year 2020, perhaps such vaccine trials are warranted. Vaccines can protect males and females against some of the most common types of HPV that can lead to disease and cancer. These vaccines are given in three shots. It is important to get all three doses to get the best protection. The vaccines are most effective when given at 11 or 12 years of age. Girls and women: Two vaccines (Cervarix and Gardasil) are available to protect females against the types of HPV that cause most cervical cancers. One of these vaccines (Gardasil) also protects against most genital warts. Gardasil has also been shown to protect against anal, vaginal and vulvar cancers. Either vaccine is recommended for 11 and 12 year-old girls, and for females 13 through 26 years of age, who did not get any or all of the shots when they were younger. These vaccines can also be given to girls beginning at 9 years of age. It is recommended to get the same vaccine brand for all three doses, whenever possible. Boys and men: One available vaccine (Gardasil) protects males against most genital warts and anal cancers. This vaccine is available for boys and men, 9 through 26 years of age. For those who choose to be sexually active, condoms may lower the risk of HPV. To be most effective, they should be used with every sex act, from start to finish. Condoms may also lower the risk of developing HPV-related diseases, such as genital warts and cervical cancer. But HPV can infect areas that are not covered by a condom - so condoms may not fully protect against HPV People can also lower their chances of getting HPV by being in a faithful relationship with one partner; limiting their number of sex partners; and choosing a partner who has had no or few prior sex partners. But even people with only one lifetime sex partner can get HPV. And it may not be possible to determine if a partner who has been sexually active in the past is currently infected. That's why the only sure way to prevent HPV is to avoid all sexual activity. In more developed countries, cervical screening using a Papanicolaou (Pap) test or liquid-based cytology is used to detect abnormal cells that may develop into cancer. If abnormal cells are found, women are invited to have a colposcopy. During a colposcopic inspection, biopsies can be taken and abnormal areas can be removed with a simple procedure, typically with a cauterizing loop or, more commonly in the developing world — by freezing (cryotherapy). Treating abnormal cells in this way can prevent them from developing into cervical cancer. Pap smears have reduced the incidence and fatalities of cervical cancer in the developed world

Con's

Arguments against (Disadvantages) Some doctors, (not the core researchers on this subject) believe that if we eliminate HPV16 as the causative agent through vaccination, that another oncogenic version of HPV will just take its place. In science circles this is referred to as the strongest swimmer theory. It goes like this. Imagine 50,000 sperm swimming towards an egg to fertilize it. Whichever one gets there first, fertilizes the egg and no others can enter. Now imagine that you are able to knock out that strongest swimmer. What would happen is the second strongest swimmer would reach the egg instead, and take care of the job. Ditto, if you take out the second swimmers, the third strongest would and so on. The reason this does not apply to HPV16 and oral cancer in our opinion, is that we have seen no other contenders in the pack. HPV16 is it. Cervical cancers are a different situation, 16 and 18 are the dominant causes about 70% of the time, and we sometimes see other oncogenic HPV's cause cervical cancers in association with them. We do not see this in oropharyngeal cancers. We do not see other oncogenic HPV DNA in oral cancer tissues other than HPV16. So, the other reason we believe in the vaccine, is that in the cervical cancer model, the vaccine Does not protect from the other oncogenic HPV's, such as versions 31,33, 35, 51etc. So while we have knocked out the strongest swimmers (16 and 18) no other secondary tier oncogenic HPV's have jumped in to replace them in the10 years that the vaccine has been in use. If this were happening, the vaccine would be useless, and that is not the case in over a decade of successful protection.

Personal Opinion (Conclusion)

Oral HPV infection is strongly associated with oropharyngealcancer among subjects with or without the established risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use. This was a relatively large cross-sectional study that estimated the number of oral HPV infections in the US among 14 to 69 year olds. The researchers say that their data provide evidence that oral HPV infection is mainly sexually transmitted. This is because infection was uncommon among participants with no previous sexual partners, but was up to eight times higher among those with previous partners, and increased significantly as the number of partners increased. The researchers do point out, however, that their study did not collect information on possible non-sexual transmission methods. While policy decisions regarding HPV infection generally focus on genital HPV among females, this research demonstrated that, at least in the US, men are more likely to be infected with oral HPV. As high-risk types of oral HPV have been shown to cause mouth cancer, this research may open up discussions on the need to address these risks. Options for reducing the risk of infection include targeting modifiable behaviours, such as smoking and sexual behaviour. Whether current vaccines against HPV can prevent oral cancer is unknown and this research does not provide any evidence as to how effective any vaccine might be. All in all, this was a well conducted cross-sectional study that estimated the prevalence of oral HPV infections in the United States. However, it does not provide any information on the number of participants who went on to develop oral cancer. It is important to remember that there are many different types of HPV, and not everyone who is infected will go on to develop cancer. This study cannot tell us the rates of oral HPV infection in general, but may provide information on risk factors for infection that apply to populations outside the US.

References 1.) Encyclopediadramatica 2.) Google.com 3.)Bing.com 4.) Drmason Arcticletimes Magazine