HPV: The Health Crisis We’re Not Talking About
A recent and unscientific polling of some LGBTs about human papillomavirus (HPV) ventured some guesses: “Isn’t that the name of the warts people get on their junk?”; “That’s what women get that causes cervical cancer.”; “Doesn’t it give lesbians throat cancer?” The depth of our common knowledge about HPV isn’t substantial, which is to say it’s kind of like everyone else’s understanding of it. But certain factors in LGBT populations increase our risk of some serious health outcomes, including cancer. “Pretty much everyone is infected with HPV at some point in their life,” says physician Judith Shlay, interim director of […]