Multiple Strains of HPV Up Cancer Risk

A new study finds Multiple HPV infections up cancer risk for women.

Women who become infected with multiple strains of the virus linked to cervical cancer may have a particularly high risk of developing the disease, new research suggests.

The new findings suggest that women who become infected with multiple strains of HPV are at particular risk of developing these lesions.

At any one test, Franco's team found, 2 percent to 3 percent of the women were infected with multiple HPV strains. Many more — 22 percent — tested positive for different HPV types at some point over the four years. And as a group, these women were at particular risk of developing pre-cancerous lesions.

Compared with women who tested negative for HPV throughout the first year of the study, those infected with one HPV type were 41 times more likely to develop high-grade cervical lesions. But the risk was 92 times greater for women who'd been infected with two or three HPV types, and more than 400 times higher for those with four to six viral types.