HPV for Cervical Cancer Screening

Based on the best estimates of the prevalence of human Papillomavirus infection in the United States, the overall HPV prevalence in the target population is approximately 20%. The prevalence varies greatly with age, being as high as ∼50% in the third decade to less than 5% in the sixth. These data have implications for a discussion about the utility of human Papillomavirus testing as a screening procedure. (J Histochem Cytochem 49:1197–1198, 2001)