Contributions of Epidemiological and Laboratory Methods to the Establishment of the Causal Association of Human Papillomavirus with Cancer of the Cervix

For many decades, the epidemiological finding of females who have cervical cancer was identified as being suggestive of a sexually transmitted process and many biological agents were proposed as being responsible. In order to understand the contributions of epidemiological and laboratory methods to identifying cervical cancer etiology, this paper aimed to provide an historical review of the accumulation of laboratory and epidemiological evidence on the causal association of human papilloma virus (HPV) and cancer of the cervix, from early descriptive studies to the recent development of an effective intervention protocol with emphasis on the use of different epidemiological study designs. Research about the cause of cancer of the cervix has made a tremendous impact in the last two decades both scientifically and clinically. The epidemiological research was very crucial in establishing the relationship between the risk factors and cancer of the cervix and also to describe the type of the association. The advent of effective preventive vaccines prove the etiological role of persistent HPV infections in cancer of the cervix development, and it has taken clinical, laboratory and several designs of the epidemiological study to arrive at this point. Epidemiological research must be embraced and encouraged because this type of research can lead to the discovery of new medicines, vaccines, and other medical products that can improve the health and health outcomes of individuals in the community.