Nearly 4,000 women will die this year from cervical cancer – the only cancer caused by a virus. But women aren’t the only ones at risk. The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is an ‘extremely commutable’ virus that cannot be prevented with condoms, said Kathy Saichuk, Wellness Education coordinator at the Student Health Center. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection – or STI – and the leading cause of cervical cancer. January serves as National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. ‘[HPV] is skin-to-skin contact,’ Saichuk said. ‘Any contact sexually with any of your body parts can cause the transmission, and that’s why it’s so prevalent.’ At least 50 percent of sexually active women and men will aquire one or more types of HPV in their lives, according to the Center for Disease Control. For most, the virus will disappear on its own. ‘There are more people with HPV on this campus than those who have H1N1,’ Saichuk said. ‘We need to jump on the bandwagon [of awareness].’ Vaccines in the form of shots can protect males and females against the most common types of HPV, Saichuk said. More than 100 types of HPV exist, and Gardasil is the only vaccine that helps protect against four types of HPV – two types that cause cervical cancer and two more types that cause genital warts, according to Gardasil’s Web site. But in October, the FDA approved Gardasil for use in boys and men ages 9 to 26 to prevent genital warts caused by HPV, according to a FDA news release. ‘This is an important milestone because the use of Gardasil can now help protect young men and women from certain diseases caused by this common virus,’ Richard Haupt, executive director of Merck Research Laboratories, said in the release. Students should get to know their partners before sexual contact and tell their partners if they have been diagnosed with HPV, Saichuk said. ‘But someone may go a couple of years without knowing they have HPV,’ she said. ‘The key is to know your body and the symptoms.’ Burning during urination and pain during intercourse are warning signs, she said. ‘The college population can fight off the virus by keeping their immune system up,’ Saichuk said. ‘We should avoid anything that reduces our immunity like alcohol, tobacco or marijuana.’ No test exists to detect HPV in men, but Saichuk said women should have annual Pap smears when they turn 21 or become sexually active – whichever comes first. The Women’s Clinic in the Health Center has two certified gynecologists and offers Pap smears and the Gardasil vaccine. But 11 percent of U.S. women report they do not have their annual Pap test, according to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition. ‘The environment of a college student is one where people probably think it’s not going to happen to them,’ Saichuk said. ‘If a young person gets cervical cancer, the rippling effect is she would not be able to have any children.’ Sarah Handerhan, adult organizational development senior at Temple University in Philadelphia, created a cervical cancer group on Facebook to serve as a support group for those who are suffering from cervical cancer or those who have lost someone. ‘My grandmother died from cervical cancer before I was born, and that motivated me to get other women aware of this,’ she said. ‘No one should not meet their grandmother because of this anymore.’ —- Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]