Dear Editor:
I want to congratulate The Tufts Daily on the excellent article "The Secret Life Of... a student with an STD" (Thursday, Nov. 10). The article is extremely well written and presents some complicated medical information in a very readable and understandable way. The student's experiences in this article bring the medical facts to life. It is a story that we hear repeatedly at Health Services. There is an epidemic of HPV in our country, and it seems to receive little attention. At Health Services, we are constantly trying to get the word out to the Tufts community about the frequency of the infection, and the fact that having "clean" STD testing has a limited meaning, because you have not been tested for HPV or for herpes in most cases. In fact, experts in the field now prefer the term "STI" for sexually transmitted infection, instead of STD, since in the vast majority of cases, students infected with HPV do not have a disease, but they are infected and contagious! Bravo for such a clear, informative and interesting article!
Margaret Higham MD
Medical Director, Health Service
