Carcinoma of the Cervix

Herpesvirus Type 2: Association with Carcinoma of the Cervix

“…Epidemiologic studies of carcinoma of the cervix have revealed that the factors of uncircumcised male partners (1), multiple marriages, multiple sex partners, and early age of first coitus are associated with an increased incidence of the disease (2). These studies have led to the hypothesis that an etiologic factor of carcinoma of the cervix may be venereally transmitted.…”

“…Other evidence suggesting an etiologic role of herpesvirus in carcinoma of the cervix includes the report by Naib (7) who found a 7 percent incidence of in situ carcinoma among women with genital herpes, while only 0.6 percent of the women without genital herpes was found to have this lesion. The epidemiologic features of carcinoma of the cervix point to a venereally transmitted agent (1,2). Genital herpesvirus also appears to be venereally transmitted (8).…”

Prevalence Rates of Uterine Cervical Carcinoma in Situ for Women Using the Diaphragm or Contraceptive Oral Steroids

“…In several different studies a lower rate of cervical carcinoma was found for women who had used barrier contraceptives (diaphragm or condom), compared with women using no contraceptive (Terris and Oalmann, 1960;Boyd and Doll, 1964;Aitken-Swan and Baird, 1965). Though not confirmed by all investigators (Lombard and Potter, 1950 ;Wynder et al, 1954;Jones et al, 1958;Rotkin and King, 1962), this finding, if true, could well account for the differences we found.…”

“…Questions were included concerning five factors that were chosen as the most reliable and most important of those known to influence the prevalence rate of cervical carcinoma: age, ethnic origin, age at first pregnancy (as a reflection of early sexual experience), number of children born alive (as a reflection of the number of pregnancies), and net weekly family income (as a reflection of socioeconomic status) (Lombard and Potter, 1950;Wynder et al, 1954;Jones et al, 1958 ;Haenszel and Hillhouse, 1959;Terris and Oalmann, 1960;Rotkin, 1962;Rotkin and King, 1962;Boyd and Doll, 1964;Christopherson and Parker, 1965 …”

“…Experimental animal studies can be cited to show that human smegma is carcinogenic in susceptible mice (Pratt-Thomas et al, 1956), thus providing a rationale for the concept that barrier contraceptives such as the diaphragm and condom are protective. Also, there is an increased rate of cervical carcinoma in prostitutes (R0jel, 1953), an increased frequency of coitus among women who develop cervical carcinoma (Terris and Oalmann, 1960;Boyd and Doll, 1964), an increased probability of carcinoma in women who first experience coitus at an early age (Rotkin, 1962), and virtually no cervical carcinoma in nuns (Gagnon, 1950).…”