NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Almost 25 million U.S. women are infected with human papillomavirus, although relatively few have leading cancer-causing strains, a report said.
The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 26.8 percent of U.S. females aged 14 to 59 -- 24.9 million women -- are infected with HPV, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Only two percent of women in the group, however, have the two main cancer-causing strains -- HPV types 16 and 18 -- that are responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancers worldwide.
The Journal said the finding "could play into a debate over Merck's vaccine, Gardasil, which protects against the virus."
The drug maker had, until recently, been lobbying states to pass laws requiring preteen girls to be vaccinated against HPV.
