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United States

HPV is estimated to be the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Most sexually active men and women will probably acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. The American Social Health Association estimates that about 75–80% of sexually active Americans will be infected with HPV at some point in their lifetime. By the age of 50 more than 80% of American women will have contracted at least one strain of genital HPV. It was estimated that, in the year 2000, there were approximately 6.2 million new HPV infections among Americans aged 15–44; of these, an estimated 74% occurred to people between ages of 15 and 24. Of the STIs studied, genital HPV was the most commonly acquired. In the United States, it is estimated that 10% of the population has an active HPV infection, 4% has an infection that has caused cytological abnormalities, and an additional 1% has an infection causing genital warts.

Estimates of HPV prevalence vary from 14% to more than 90%. One reason for the difference is that some studies report women who currently have a detectable infection, while other studies report women who have ever had a detectable infection. Another cause of discrepancy is the difference in strains that were tested for.

One study found that, during 2003–2004, at any given time, 26.8% of women aged 14 to 59 were infected with at least one type of HPV. This was higher than previous estimates; 15.2% were infected with one or more of the high-risk types that can cause cancer.

The prevalence for high-risk and low-risk types is roughly similar over time.

Human papillomavirus is not included among the diseases that are typically reportable to the CDC as of 2011.