Do You Have Papilloma Virus? Probably
It wasn't so long ago that we'd never heard the word "papilloma," let alone used in conjunction with "virus." But a shocking new study has found that up to 2/3 of healthy American adults may harbor this virus. The good news is that only a few of the 109 strains cause cancer, according to newswise.com. The Web site reports that r esearchers say that while most of the viral strains so far appear to be harmless and can remain dormant for years, their overwhelming presence suggests a delicate balancing act for HPV infection in the body, in which many viral strains keep each other in check, preventing other strains from spreading out of control. Although infection is increasingly known to happen through skin-to-skin contact, HPV remains the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. It is so common that experts estimate nearly all men and women contract some strain of it during their lives. “Our study offers initial and broad eviden