About HPV: How come doctors always say how common this disease is, but it seems that they don't have it?
Question:
Seems the whole "oh don't worry, it's a common disease" speech is their poor way of trying to give you comfort. Do they say that about AIDS too? "Oh you have aids, but don't worry, it's common". As if that makes everything better! It almost seems like what they're really saying is, "diseases like HPV is common, but only common among foolish people, not us educated doctors".
May be I'm just irritated, I apologise for that. What do you think about this? It seems pretty unfair, and false.
Answers:
I don't think doctors think "diseases like HPV is common, but only common among foolish people, not us educated doctors".
You would really be surprised how many health workers do have STDs, including HPV! I am one of them. I might not be a doctor but I do work in a hospital as a pharmacy technician. I have genital herpes and HPV. No one would ever know I have either one of these viruses.
Just because a doctor doesn't admit he has an STD or has had one before doesn't mean he has never had one. They don't have to and most likely will not tell a patient they have an STD. But, they are people, just like their patients. They have a life outside of the office that involves girlfriends or boyfriends, wife or husband and I guarantee you some of them have contracted an STD at some point in their life. I would NEVER admit to any of my co-workers or patients that I have an STD. That doesn't mean I don't have one though!
And, HPV is VERY common! It is one of the most common STDs. According to the CDC, approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.
http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm#common
HPV is Humano Papiloma Virus or something like that. It's the virus that causes cervical cancer in women. Most women have HPV. Sometimes it transforms into cervical cancer, sometimes it doesn't.
Maybe before you start talking bad about doctors, you should read up on the disease, or in this case, virus.
HPV is an extremely common virus. MOST women contract it at some point in their life. The concern is that there are different strains of HPV, just as there are different strains of flu, colds, and other viruses. Only a FEW, not most, strains of HPV cause cervical cancer. But HPV is the ONLY cause of cervical cancer. And they've come out with a vaccine for it in the USA recently (not sure if it's fully approved for public use there yet...not yet in Canada). So eveyone's started to try to raise more awareness about the serious risks with some strains of HPV.
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