[iterationx]

According to the article: " Also, babies born to mothers with active genital herpes have a more than 80 percent mortality rate"

How can this be if 1/6 people has herpes in the US ? Seems like you would hear about a lot more infant deaths.

[zo1]

There are two types of herpes virus (one affecting you orally, the other "genitally"). Additionally, what confuses me even more is that there are two strains (Type 1 and Type 2). Have a read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_virus

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex

I can't confirm if the two strains/types are the cause for discrepancy in your stats, but it's worth a look. Anyone have more info on this?

Odd/funny story: I have the oral/harmless version of Herpes, and I once made the mistake of asking a GP for more info. He pulled out a fat textbook, and proceeded to look it up in front of me. Needless to say, that was a very fruitless conversation, and I changed doctors after that incident.

[brohee]

The infection is asymptomatic in most cases, the sentence clearly applies to people for which it is not, and during outbreaks...

[onion2k]

The key word is "active". 1/6 of people have the virus, but far fewer have it an active outbreak at any given time.

[refurb]

In addition, if a mother has an active infection, you can deliver the baby via c-section to avoid passing the disease onto the kid.

[ghaspland]

You can also avoid infecting the infant, even during an outbreak, if the mother has a c-section.

[dguaraglia]

The amount of FUD being spread about HPV is stunning. Maybe it's my tinfoil hat, but I can only associate the increased news coverage on the fact that:

1) A pharmaceutical corporation developed a vaccine for it 2) TV broadcasting is heavily funded by pharmaceutical corporations 3) Profit

It's brilliant. You develop a vaccine for a virus most of the population will be exposed to at some point in their lives (HPV, flu, you name it.) Despite the fact that the vast majority will survive the infection without any issues, you convince them that they'll die if they don't get vaccinated. Better yet: you convince them their kids will die.

Rinse, repeat.

[toufka]

Just to clarify some science. The link between HPV and cancer is direct, strong and without dispute. It's one of the rare cases where we can pinpoint exactly how a disease/cancer works.

HPV wants its own DNA to be replicated properly - but a particular protein (P53) in humans impairs the virus' ability to replicate. So the virus has evolved the ability to shut down that human protein. The problem is that P53 also serves another role in humans other than helping to stop viruses - it is a DNA repair protein. So the virus, by shutting down the ability of the cell's ability to repair its own DNA it becomes much more susceptible to DNA-damaging events like smoking, UV light and old age generally.

There are a handful of proteins responsible for keeping your cells from becoming cancerous. P53 is the name of one of these control proteins. HPV has evolved to actively destroy P53. So once a person is infected with HPV, their own P53 proteins are compromised and can no longer repair their DNA as efficiently as someone who is not infected with HPV.

The HPV vaccine is one of the very clearest lines of causality from atomic resolution biology through public policy. It's an amazing feat of society.

[refurb]

I think you're confused.

HPV is not herpes. HPV (certain strains) is the leading cause of cervical cancer, oral cancer, anal cancer. Having a vaccine against it is a huge benefit to public health. I think pharma companies should be commended for developing it, considering the vaccine hasn't been selling that well and they certainly aren't making money had over fist with it.