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Women: protect yourselves from HPV |
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Tuesday, 03 April 2007 |
A nice home with a flower garden and white picket fence and a loving husband or wife and 2.5 kids playing outside with a golden retriever.
Although, personally, this is not my ideal future, in 10 years, this is what many students could picture
their lives consisting of.
In fact, 90 percent of college students report the desire to have children, according to a study performed by the Taylor and Francis Group International.
However, if college-aged women do not take the initiative to tend to gynecological needs or problems, they may not have the opportunity to reproduce.
HPV, or human papillomavirus, is growing more and more common on college campuses and
especially in women.
According to Suffolk University, 14 percent of college females become
infected with HPV each year and between 40-60 percent of women will be
infected with HPV at some point in their college careers.
When many women who are important to me become diagnosed with STDs or
cancer related to women’s issues, I can’t stress enough how important
it is to take care of what goes on “down there.”
The signs and symptoms of HPV are difficult to detect. In fact, many
women carrying the infection have no idea they are carriers.
The virus lives in the skin or mucous membranes and sometimes produces
genital warts or pre-cancerous changes in the cervix and vulva,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HPV can ultimately lead to cervical cancer in women, which sometimes can cause a woman to not have the ability to have children.
The American Cancer Society actually estimates that 10,520 women will
develop invasive cervical cancer and 3,900 will die each year from it.
Personally, these statistics are alarming and scaring for me.
Children are not in the plans for me anytime soon, but I would like to always have the option.
Prevention of HPV is not that difficult.
A regular pap smear can help detect the disease or any other STD early
and make recovery much easier as well as reduce the risk of passing it
on to sexual partners.
In fact, women should start having an annual pap smear starting at 21 or when she becomes sexually active.
HPV is passed from partner to partner with genital contact.
So, no ladies, you cannot get HPV from the toilet seat, which many think they can.
At Appalachian State University’s Mary S. Shook Student Health
Services, females have many opportunities to take care of issues
directly related to their sex.
According to health service’s Web site, they currently offer pap
smears, contraceptives, birth control, STD testing, pregnancy testing
and emergency contraception.
They also offer the HPV vaccine, which although is rather pricy, is
also covered by most health insurance plans and definitely worth the
investment.
The only stipulation with health services is the time constraints.
Nurse practitioners are only available from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. to
focus on women’s health.
However, Student Government Association is working to change that.
“SGA is working to improve gynecological care on campus,” James A.
Herriz Jr., a senior marketing major and director of multi-cultural
affairs for SGA said. “We are working with Pat Geiger [director of
health services] to get a nurse practitioner to consult gynecological
problems in the after hours clinic.”
For everyone’s sake, please take the time, money and effort to make sure you are healthy and happy … everywhere.
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