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Doctors warn on carcinogenic virus

The dangers of the human papilloma virus, which has been identified as the cause of almost all incidences of cervical cancer, were highlighted at an event held yesterday by the Taiwan Association of Gynecologic Oncologists.

Citing Department Of Health statistics, the head of the association, Yang Yu-cheng (楊育正), said that cervical cancer constitutes 20 percent of all cancer cases and claims the lives of 1,000 Taiwanese each year.

Tseng Chih-ren (曾志仁), the head of the gynecological department of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said that 99.7 percent of all cervical cancers are caused by the human papilloma virus. This is the strongest relationship that has been found between any form of cancer and its cause, with a stronger link than that between lung cancer and smoking, or liver cancer and the Hepatitis B virus.

Yang said that 10-15 percent of sexually active women in Taiwan contract the virus. Although the immune system fights off the virus in up to 80 percent of the cases, in 10 percent of women the virus remains within the body, mutating into a form that can cause cancer over a period of years.

Tseng added there are over 200 variations of the human papilloma virus. These can be divided into high-risk and low-risk viruses, according to how likely they are to cause cancer.

Tseng said that with sexual intercourse being the most likely cause of transmission, sexual protection was vital, and that restricting the number of sexual partners one has was also an important consideration.

In cases of human papilloma virus infection, Tseng said that cervical smear tests played a critical role in the early detection of cancer, which greatly improves survival rates.

In the future, vaccinations against the virus will most likely be available Tseng said.

The association has produced a set of comics regarding precautions that can be taken against the virus. It can be downloaded for free at www.hpvcare.com.tw.
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