The most common-place sexually-transmitted infection will become the subject of investigation in the Yukon, the territory's chief medical officer announced Tuesday.

The study, Dr. Brendan Hanley told reporters, will focus on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in female patients: how many women have the virus, what their sexual habits are and their medical history.

Yukon women will be asked to participate when they go in for a routine Pap smear, a check-up which all sexually active women are encouraged to get once a year.

"There isn't much known in Canada about HPV rates within various communities," Hanley said of why the study is being done.

"The information gathered from this study will help us better design and update HPV programs."

Currently, Health Canada estimates that up to 75 per cent of Canadians are infected with HPV at some point in their lives.

In a person with a healthy immune system, the infection will generally clear out after a time.

In some, it will reveal itself as genital warts and, in a small percentage of cases, it can lead to cancer.

Cervical cancer, the third most common cancer in women between the ages of 20 and 49, is most commonly associated with HPV.

According to information from the territorial Department of Health and Social Services, the recent push to vaccinate girls and women against HPV is aimed more at preventing cancer than it is at guarding against a sexually transmitted infection.

The doctor said he encouraged girls to get the vaccine as "the best way to prevent cervical cancer."

Free, voluntary vaccinations will be offered to girls in Grades 6 and 9 starting in the fall, providing a perfect opportunity for study, Hanley said.

The year-long study will provide "a baseline evalution," Hanley said, which can be compared against future information taken from the young women who have been vaccinated.

If anyone can get excited about a study into the prevalence of sexually-transmitted infections, it's a chief medical officer, and Hanley is no exception.

"It's very exciting research," he said yesterday, "and a great contribution to Yukon health."

He stressed that participation in the study is entirely anonymous, so much so that the women who pass over their personal info, and Pap smears, will not be informed of their results.

"The benefits go back to the population rather than the individual," Hanley said.

There is no point in telling women who test positive, he said, because there is not much to be done about it if they do have HPV.

There is no cure for the virus, Hanley said, before reiterating that in most cases, it eventually leaves the carrier's system.

Any abnormalities that may indicate cancer would be revealed by the regular Pap smear, which the woman would be informed about.

The study, which will begin later this month and continue on to next May, focuses on women only because of the nature of the test.

"Unfortunately, men don't come in for Pap smears," Hanley said.

He explained that the Pap test, in which the doctor or nurse takes a cell sample from the woman's cervix, gives a broad range of information rarely available from men.

There is no similar test for men.

The study is being done in participation with Public Health Agency of Canada and Montreal's McGill University.