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HPV (human papillomavirus) is the most common sexually transmitted disease. It has been estimated by the American Cancer Society that nearly 9,710 cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year and out of those, 3,700 will die. Most people get it within the first year of starting sexual activity. The worse part about it is that the disease causes no symptoms. 90 percent of the time, the body clears itself of the virus. In smaller cases, precancerous lesions are formed on the cervix that eventually leads to cancer.

A recent study was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention that found a link between heavy smoking and high levels of a certain strain of HPV. In the study, those that were currently smoking, and had symptoms of HPV at the time of the first Pap smear were over 14 times more likely to show signs of the precancerous lesions than the current smokers who were not infected.

The heavy smokers with high levels of HPV when they were first tested were 27 times more likely to develop the lesions. But the nonsmokers that also had high levels of HPV raised their risk by only six times.

While the researchers of this study do not know why the risk of cervical cancer was higher in the heavy smokers, they think that it may have to do with the way that smoking effects the immune system because of a link found between smoking and HPV, both of which affect molecules called cytokines, which control tumor growth.

Women who are smokers and have the HPV virus should have frequent Pap Smears, of course, the more preferable action is to quit smoking and the virus may clear on its own.