--- title: HPV Infections Found in Two-Thirds of American Adults: Study description: One of the largest studies of the human papillomavirus to date finds that 69% of healthy American adults have at least one strain of the virus, and 4% carried strains that could lead to cervical cancer canonical: https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-20T14:45:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:55:35.275Z article:section: Health og:title: HPV Infections Found in Two-Thirds of American Adults: Study og:description: One of the largest studies of the human papillomavirus to date finds that 69% of healthy American adults have at least one strain of the virus, and 4% carried strains that could lead to cervical cancer og:url: https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38cea2f4a71420bd/6986901ee53abaec0c4d2a55/151064555.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3630 og:image:height: 2042 og:image:alt: Papilloma Virus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: HPV Infections Found in Two-Thirds of American Adults: Study twitter:description: One of the largest studies of the human papillomavirus to date finds that 69% of healthy American adults have at least one strain of the virus, and 4% carried strains that could lead to cervical cancer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38cea2f4a71420bd/6986901ee53abaec0c4d2a55/151064555.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # HPV Infects Two-Thirds of Healthy Americans, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 20, 2014 2:45 PM UTC  Papilloma Virus Papilloma Virus BSIP—UIG via Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 20, 2014 2:45 PM UTC A [new study](http://www.eurekalert.org/emb%5Freleases/2014-05/nlmc-mtt051614.php) has found that more than two-thirds of healthy American adults have been infected with at least one strain of human papillomavirus (HPV), but a “delicate balancing” act across 109 different strains frequently renders the sexually-transmitted disease dormant and harmless. The study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center sampled DNA from 103 men and women, and found at least one strain of the virus in 69% of the subjects. Nearly 4% had one of two strains known to cause cervical cancer, throat cancer and genital warts. The researchers also found that the various strains tend to interact and offset symptoms in a balancing act reminiscent of a bacterial environment. “Our study offers initial and broad evidence of a seemingly ‘normal’ HPV viral biome in people that does not necessarily cause disease and that could very well mimic the highly varied bacterial environment in the body, or microbiome, which is key to maintaining good health,” said lead researcher Zhiheng Pei. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/"},"headline":"HPV Infects Two-Thirds of Healthy Americans, Study Finds","datePublished":"2014-05-20T14:45:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:55:35.275Z","description":"One of the largest studies of the human papillomavirus to date finds that 69% of healthy American adults have at least one strain of the virus, and 4% carried strains that could lead to cervical cancer","url":"https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","HPV","health","Bacteria","STD","infection"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38cea2f4a71420bd/6986901ee53abaec0c4d2a55/151064555.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38cea2f4a71420bd/6986901ee53abaec0c4d2a55/151064555.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Papilloma Virus","caption":"Papilloma Virus","creditText":"BSIP—UIG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/105120/hpv-study-std/","name":"HPV Infects Two-Thirds of Healthy Americans, Study Finds"}}]}] ```