I have already said it once, but I want to say it again, there are low-risk types. The low-risk types are associated with low-grade changes and warts or condyloma. The high-risk types are associated with cancer, and in all other cancers in the body, head and neck, vulvar, vaginal, anal; it is all HPV 16 essentially. But the cervix is so susceptible to HPV-related carcinogenesis, there are lots of types. So 16, all the other cancers, but in the cervix, 16 and many other types. And so really we have now evolved over nine years, that you can test for the virus on the cervix, because if there is no virus, there is no pre-cancer and there is no cancer. I belong to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called ACOG, and they have told us that is important, but the low-risk types are irrelevant. The low-risk types, because they are not associated with cancer, 6 and 11 types if you will, cause genital warts. We do not screen for those because our mission in screening for cervical cancer is to find pre cancerous lesions we can treat, and not to worry about the low-risk types.
[20] Cox. Obstet Gynecol. 1995;9:1.
[21] Munoz et al. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:518.
[22] ACOG Practice Bulletin, Number 99. Obstet Gynecol. 2008;112:1419-1444.
