Sexually transmitted virus
bears stigma, risk of cancer
■The Health Center says HPV
is by far the most common STD
they see, though most students
know very little about the virus
By Leon Tovey
Oregon Daily Emerald
Melanie Johnson* didn’t know
she had a sexually transmitted dis
ease until her mother called her
and told her.
The University senior said she
thought human papillomavirus
was just a run-of-the-mill thing
like a yeast infection. No one at
the University Health Center men
tioned the words “genital warts”
when they told her she had HPV
in fall 1999.
“They told me I should take vita
mins and watch my diet and get
plenty of rest,” Johnson said. “They
never, ever, ever once said this was
an STD.”
Johnson said she was given a
pap smear during spring 1999 at
the Health Center, and the results
came back “abnormal.” She said
she was told later that year about
her HPV status, but she didn’t
know exactly what it was until af
ter her mother researched the dis
ease on the Internet.
“She got all these hits from sites
talking about genital warts,” John
son said. “It was humiliating. The
whole tiling made me really upset.”
Colleen Jones, the nurse practi
tioner at the Health Center who told
Melanie about her HPV infection,
said the humiliation Melanie felt
typifies the response of most of the
students she examines. HPV is by far
the most common STD the Health
Center deals with, and Jones said she
usually spends about half her time
with patients explaining that testing
positive for the virus is not the end of
the world.
“I try to tell them to remember that
they are the same person they were
before they found out they have
HPV,” she said. “It’s just a virus.”
The national Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimates
between 50 and 75 percent of sexu
ally active men and women will ac
quire HPV at some point in their
lives, and 5.5 million people get a
new genital HPV infection every
year. Because the virus can be
spread by skin-to-skin contact —
unlike HIV and Hepatitis B, which
are spread only through contact
with bodily fluids — the only way
to prevent infection is total absti
‘They never, ever, ever once
said this was an STD.”
Melanie Johnson*
University student
nence. Condoms and other protec
tive devices don’t work because
they don’t cover all areas of contact.
HPV also differs from many other
STDs in that in time it becomes
“self-containing,” and some re
search indicates that it eventually
leaves the body completely.
While research has linked HPV
to cervical, penile and anal cancer,
Jones pointed out that while more
than five million people get HPV
every year, only 15,000 women de
velop cervical cancer each year.
While 80 percent of cervical can
cers are caused by one of three
types of HPV, Jones said for the ma
jority of people, the biggest prob
lem caused by the virus is the stig
ma attached to STDs — a fact she
attributed to people’s attitudes
about sex.
“We’re good at having sex, but
terrible at talking about it,” she
said. “We don’t have a very healthy
view of our bodies; we don’t have a
very healthy view of sexuality. ”
For health officials, the biggest
problem caused by HPV is track
ing it. Because the virus cannot be
detected through blood tests, the
only way to know if a person is in
fected is the appearance of symp
toms. And according to Dr. Henry
Buck, coordinator of gynecology
at the University of Kansas Health
Center and an expert on HPV, the
majority of people who have HPV
never get warts. That makes the
virus particularly hard to diag
nose in men, who can’t be tested
through pap smears, which is the
most common way the virus is
discovered in women.
Buck said studies conducted
during the 1990s at the University
of California at Berkeley and at
Rutgers University indicate
around 50 percent of college stu
dents are infected with HPV. The
Berkeley survey tested 467
women for the virus; 47 percent of
them were positive. At Rutgers, 61
percent of the women tested were
positive for the virus.
But Buck pointed out that infec
tion is not necessarily the same
thing as getting sick.
“It’s kind of like how everyone
has E. coli in their bowels,” Buck
said. “The presence doesn’t mean
a thing.”
*Name changed to protect the
source’s privacy.
E-mail higher education editor Leon Tovey
at leontovey@dailyemerald.com.
Working for the world
Making a difference.
These organizations will be participating
Albertina Kerr Centers
AmeriCorps - Oregon Commission
Boys & Girls Club of Salem
Bureau of Land Management
Camp Fire Boys & Girls, Wilani Council
Camp Tawonga
Central European Teaching Program
Christie School
Committed Partners for Youth
Eckerd Youth Alternatives
Emergency Services Education & Counseling
Eugene Water & Electric Board
Family Relief Nursery
Family YMCA of Marion/Polk Counties
Food for Lane County
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Fund for Public Interest Research
Girl Scouts, Columbia River Council
Health Care for All - Oregon
HIV Alliance
Lane Shelter Care
Looking Glass Youth & Family Services
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Mount Pisgah Arboretum
National Association of State PIRGS
Naval Recruiting District - Portland
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Oregon Dept, of Environmental Quality
Oregon Parks & Recreation Department
Pacific Crest Outward Bound
Peace Corps
Portland Fire and Rescue
Relief Nursery
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments
San Diego Choice Program
Social Security Administration
Teach for America
The OGI School of Science & Engineering, OHSU
UO Marriage & Family Therapy Program
US Environmental Protection Agency
Washington State Patrol
Wllshire Boulevard Temple Camps
YMCA Camp Collins
For more information on these organizations and job openings, visit the
Career Center’s website at http://uocareer.uoregon.edu
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