News Roundup: Survivors Of HPV-Related Cancers More Likely To Develop A Second Cancer, Study Says

Our daily look at Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelSeptember 11, 2018 3:21 pm

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

Texas researchers have found that survivors of HPV-associated cancers are more likely to develop a second HPV-associated cancer.

The full name for HPV is human papillomavirus. It’s the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the world, and it can lead to a variety of cancers in women and men.

Elizabeth Chiao is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

“So, for women, the most common human papillomavirus-associated cancers are cervix, vaginal cancers, vulvar – so those are just for women. And for then for men: penile cancer. And then for both men and women oropharynx cancer and anal cancer,” Chiao says.

Chiao worked on a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. She explains that after examining data from HPV-associated cancer survivors from 1973 to 2014, they found women were six times more likely to get another cancer.

“And then in men, the incidence was increase by about 15 times, and again, that includes another tumor at the same site,” she says.

She says other research has come to similar conclusions.

“What’s new about our study is that we looked a little more closely at the types of second cancers, and so, for example, women who have had vulvar cancer are at quite an increased risk for a second anal cancer.” Chiao says.

Chiao hopes this research will lead to new guidelines for screening survivors of HPV-associated cancers for other types of cancer. And she adds, the HPV vaccine is an effective way to help prevent infection and these types of cancers from developing in the first place.




The Texas aattorney general says when it comes to health care, states should decide what’s best for them. 

Ken Paxton is leading a 20-state coalition in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the Affordable Care Act. He spoke with Fox News Channel Monday, less than a week after a Fort Worth judge heard oral arguments in the case.

Paxton said if the ACA is deemed unconstitutional, solutions will be needed. 

 

“And what I would suggest, which I think has worked over and over again, is let the states resolve this. Let each state decide what’s best for their citizens,” he said.

If Texas prevails in this case, roughly 130 million Americans could lose protections that ban insurance companies from denying them coverage due to preexisting conditions. 




Austin’s Animal Advisory Commission is asking city leaders to prohibit declawing cats in the city. The commission on Monday approved a recommendation that would fine people who perform or obtain the declawing procedure. However, there is an exception if the procedure is medically necessary due to illness or infection. David Lundstedt chairs the commission:

“We hope that it will spread within other communities in Texas if we start it here,” he said.

If approved by the city council, Austin would be the first city in the state to prohibit the practice.