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American Morning
Look at STD Effecting More Women Than Herpes
Aired June 10, 2002 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Young women may be at a greater risk now for a genital herpes infection. A new study says herpes infections are on the rise, and women in their early 20s face the greatest danger. Yes, there is another sexually transmitted disease effecting even more women than herpes. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta with more on this morning's house call, to tell us why even safe sex isn't so safe anymore.
Good morning, doctor.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Yes, you're right. I guess safe sex probably never really has been that safe, but with all the attention focused on HIV and AIDs, a lot of attention has been diverted from some of the more common sexually transmitted diseases. These numbers will make you choke on your cereal, but take a look at them: chlamydia, two million people in the United States, genital herpes, 45 million people, one in five to one in six people, genital herpes. And Human Papilloma Virus, 20 million. That is actually the most common, actually effects more people than herpes, because it actually goes away and comes back, 5.5 million cases, new cases of HPV every year.
What is sort of interesting and remarkable about Human Papilloma Virus, that third one, is that it can be spread by skin-to-skin contact. So it doesn't actually require fluid-to-fluid transmission, and that can be the problem there. You'll see that With 5.5 million cases, three quarters of all Americans are infected at some point.
Now, untreated, Human Papilloma Virus can be very, very significant. It can actually lead to genital warts. It can also lead to cervical cancer, Paula. This is something that's sort of a new finding over the last few years, the finding that this virus can actually lead to a cancer if the infection persists, if it's not treated; 14,000 new cases of cervical cancer a year, 5,000 women die of cervical cancer a year, and it's largely a preventable problem, because of this virus.
ZAHN: But the problem is, doctor, as you and I both know, women aren't routinely screened for this. Isn't it true that thousands of women are walking around with this and they don't even know they have it?
GUPTA: Absolutely. It's usually asymptomatic, meaning people don't even know that they have it. They don't have any symptoms because of it. But there have been some new guidelines that have come in place as they have found out more about Human Papilloma Virus and its link to cancer.
Again, this is a relatively new thing, and it's one of the only viruses that we actually know of that causes cancer. So the recommendations now, all sexually active women should be getting pap smears at least once a year, along with a pelvic examination. That is the best way to try and find this. Now if there are abnormalities on the pap smear, those particular abnormalities are also screened for Human Papilloma Virus. It the virus is detected, most of the time it will go away on its own. But sometimes it needs to be treated further. That's where the treatment of the cervical cancer comes in as well.
ZAHN: So how do women avoid getting this in the first place?
GUPTA: Well, The key, really, I guess as we've heard so many times, is abstinence. But if -- Human Papilloma Virus is something you can't see, hard to detect, is around, it's really hard to prevent it -- women from getting it in the first place. The real key is diagnosis and treatment so it doesn't progress to something bad like the cervical cancer.
ZAHN: So, yet another inducement for everybody to be screened routinely, having their pap smears, right?
GUPTA: Absolutely.
ZAHN: All right, Dr. Sanjay. You coming to town tomorrow, is that true?
GUPTA: I'm coming tonight. I'll see you tomorrow morning.
ZAHN: We're warming up a chair over there. What section of the sofa do you want? That big plush section, the left side, right side?
GUPTA: I like the middle section, so I can kind of lay out.
ZAHN: All right, we'll save you the space.
GUPTA: Thanks. See you.
ZAHN: Thanks. See you tomorrow morning.
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