Chronic Disease Risk Assessment

Jocey Brand

SCI/162

December 8, 2013

Mrs. Armstrong

Many women would never think they could get cervical cancer. Most of us would never even imagine being diagnosed, until it became a reality. Making our annual appointment with our Gynecologist, we expect to hear “I’ll see you next year, make an appointment on your way out, and have a great day!” Then you get the call from your doctors nurse telling you, “We found abnormal cells on your cervix and we need to take a biopsy, When is a good time for you to come back in?” Right then your heart drops, and a long silence leads you to wonder, “How could this happen to me?”

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection. There is almost fifty different types that can infect the genitals of women and men, mouth and throat can be infected as well. Most people who are carriers of HPV don’t know they even have it. Signs and symptoms may not be present. Men are known carriers. Even using condoms don’t count you out, condoms do not protect against HPV. The safest way to have sexual contact, is to have you and your partner tested. Abstinence is the safest method of protection. The most common consequences from HPV is cervical dysplasia and genital warts. Here are some informational facts sponsored by the Center for Disease Control also known as the (CDC). Most people with HPV never develop symptoms or health problems. Most HPV infections (90%) go away by themselves within two years. But, sometimes, HPV infections will persist and can cause a variety of serious health problems. Health problems that can be caused by HPV include
Genital warts (warts on the genital areas);
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), a rare condition in which warts grow in the throat;
Cervical cancer, cancer on a woman's cervix; and
Other, less common, but serious cancers, including genital cancers (cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis, or anus), and a type of head and neck cancer called oropharyngeal cancer (cancer in the back of throat, including the base of the tongue and tonsils).
All cases of genital warts and RRP, and nearly all cases of cervical cancer, are caused by HPV. A subset of cancers of the vagina, vulva, anus, penis, and oropharynx, are caused by HPV.
The types of HPV that can cause genital warts are not the same as the types of HPV that can cause cancers.

The American Cancer Society statistics show that Cervical Cancer killed 4,030 victims in this year of 2013. Cervical cancer is cancer that starts in the cervix. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus that opens at the top on the vagina. There are a few different treatment options available, Conization or biopsy cone, LEEP, and in worse cases, a Hysterectomy. Even though signs rarely reveal