Do people freak out about HPV more because its acronym is similar to HIV?
HPV causes genital warts and can lead to cancer in some cases, but it is not the same thing as HIV. I think some people who are ignorant of the diseases tend to subconsciously overreact to hearing the acronym HPV, confusing it with HIV. Don’t you wish there was another acronym for HPV?
I wasn’t asking why people freak out about HPV, but if they have a stronger reaction to the acronym due to its similarity to HIV.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Actually – I don’t think it’s the similarity of the acronym that is making people freak out… it’s all the hype that has been on the TV since Gardasil started advertising.
“OMG!!! Did you know there is a virus that can cause cervical cancer?!?!?”
People are freaking out because they are associating HPV with cancer… so when they hear that they have HPV, they assume it means they will get cancer in the future.
Media creates frenzy every day of the week.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I suppose, but I think people freak out just because it’s an std, and what they don’t realise is that more than 50 percent of the people they encounter or work with or whatever probably have some sort of std. It’s just stereotypical, I guess. There are several different types of HPV. Their are 2 main types one causes genital warts, and the other causes cervical cancer. If you have HPV, either type, it’s extremely important to make regular appointments with an obgyn. But HPV is the common cold of stds, in fact it usually goes away within a few years…. So it’s not that bad really…
April 17th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I don’t think they freak out because the acronym is similar to HIV. I think they freak out because it doesn’t have a cure, there’s too many strains to keep up with, it can cause infertility, it can lead to cancer, and people’s ignorance and promiscuously keeps it going strong just like HIV.