A report published by the National Center for Health Statistics is the first ever survey to look at the prevalence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) in the adult population. It found that more than 42 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 are infected with genital HPV, the same strains that account for 31,000 new cases of cancer each year. Within the age range studied, HPV disproportionately affects non-Hispanic blacks, affecting 33.7 percent of the population. Asians are the least affected, with 11.9 percent of the population between the ages of 18 and 59 being affected. In whites, the prevalence of genital HPV was 21.6 percent.
The HPV vaccine is effective in preventing HPV infection. These findings strengthen the urgency of increasing HPV vaccine completion as outlined in the WI CCC Plan 2015-2020.