Human Papillomavirus-related cancers are on the rise
While cancer rates across Iowa have stayed relatively stable, doctors are noting a rise in cases of the types caused by Human Papillomavirus, or HPV.
Details on Iowa cancer rates were shared Tuesday, March 5 as part of a "Cancer in Iowa Report" from the State Health Registry at the College of Public Health building on the UI campus.
Annually, HPV causes about 34,000 cases of cancer each year including cervical cancer in women and oropharyngeal cancer in men.
HPV is contracted through vaginal, oral and anal sex and other genital contact. In some cases, it can be contracted by kissing someone with the virus.
"HPV has become the most common sexually transmitted infection," said Mary Charlton, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.
Increased HPV infection rates could be a driver of rising cervical and throat cancer rates. About 79 million people in the country are currently infected and 14 million will become newly infected with HPV.
"We're also getting much better at detecting it," said George Weiner, a doctor and director of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa. "Previously when men would get throat cancer we would not link it to HPV. Now we understand that that's part of the cause."
Heather Meador, a nurse and clinical branch supervisor at Linn County Public Health, said the best way to prevent people from contracting HPV is getting vaccinated at a young age. Unfortunately, the rate of Iowans getting vaccinated has been slow to increase.
"We have a vaccine to prevent future cancers, and only 38 percent of people are getting it," added Weiner.
He said a stigma has been attached to the vaccine as initially it was marketed as a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease.
"From our point of view it's a cancer prevention vaccine," he said. "And we think that's some of the stigma that by vaccinating young children you're assuming they will be sexually active at a certain age and that's not the reason at all."
Just about everybody who is sexually active has had HPV, but around 90 percent of those who contract it can clear it from their system. The remaining 10 percent keep the infection and if untreated, can pass it on.
Other types of cancer remain problematic, but at stable rates, officials noted.
Breast cancer and prostate cancer remain the most common types diagnosed among females and males, respectively, in the state, while lung cancer continues to be the most common cause of cancer deaths. The number of people dying from these types of cancers are decreasing, however. About 6,400 Iowans will die of cancer this year.
In Johnson County alone, there are just over 5,000 cancer survivors, meaning they're either living with cancer or previously had it.
Over the next year, about 610 more local residents will be diagnosed with cancer, according to the report.
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