The omnipresent virus associated with cervical, vaginal and throat cancers might also raise the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, which is the second most widespread kind of skin cancer, a new study has suggested.

The risk from human papillomavirus (HPV) seen in a novel study was even elevated if people are taking drugs, for instance glucocorticoids, in order to repress the immune system, according to the latest research by an international squad that was led by Dr. Margaret Karagas of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N. H.

But all of this does not essentially mean that HPV causes squamous cell carcinoma, one specialist said.

"That is a fairly big bound to me", said Dr. Stephen Mandy, an associate of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery and clinical Professor of Dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

There are, in fact, high possibilities that people with high blood levels of HPV antibodies as well have skin cancer for various reasons.

There are vaccinations already in use (for example Gardasil) that guard against the HPV strains that develops cervical cancer.

However specialists said that, given that there are no less than 100 types of HPV, vaccines' shielding capability is not likely to convert to another disease.