Whereas HIV only in recent decades became infectious for humans, high risk papillomavirus types have in all likelihood been with us for millions of years, accompanying the human race since the early days of our evolution.
From Harald zur Hausen
In retrospect, I have devoted my scientific life mainly to the question to what extent infectious agents contribute to human cancer, trusting that this will contribute to novel modes of cancer prevention, diagnosis and, hopefully, later on, also to cancer therapy.
As a child, I remember my own intensive interest in biology, birds, other animals and flowers and was determined at an early age to become a scientist.
After briefly considering whether to study biology or medicine, I opted for medicine and initiated my studies at the University of Bonn. The first two years were particularly hard, since I simultaneously decided to attend lectures and courses in biology as well.
Most of the infections linked to human cancers are common in human populations; they are ubiquitous. They were present during the whole human evolution process.
Born in 1936, I experienced the Second World War as a child in the city of Gelsenkirchen-Buer. This area was heavily bombed, but fortunately, all members of my family survived the war and post-war period.
It is important to note that there exist vast gender differences in the global role of papillomaviruses in human cancers. This is mainly due to the role of this virus family in the induction of cancer of the cervix.
Regional clustering of specific cancer types triggered some investigations on a potential role of infectious agents in these malignant proliferations.
Maybe I should mention it: I was not from the beginning mainly interested in papilloma virus; I was mainly interested in infectious agents in human cancer. So papilloma viruses came up as the most likely candidate from my viewpoint.
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