HPV

I just finished a project on HPV, Human Papillomavirus. I didn't know very much about before I started. I knew thanks to the Gardasil vaccine that it was somehow related to cervical cancer but not much other than that. I thought I'd enlighten ya'll on it. Aren't you excited?

First of all what is HVP?


The Human Papillomavirus is a virus the causes genital warts and genital cancers that is spread through sexual contact. There are more than 100 strains. More than 30 of these strains are sexually transmitted.

How is it Spread?

Genital HPV is spread through skin-to-skin contact. It is not spread through an exchange of bodily fluid.

What are the usual sites on infection?

HPV is infected in the genital areas. This includes the vagina, vulva, cervix, anus, penis or scrotum. It can be spread by vaginal and anal intercourse, oral sec and other skin-to-skin contact. Recent studies suggest the risk of transmitting HPV during oral sex to be low. However high-risk HPV accounts of 1/4 of all oral cancers.

What is the incubation period?

After sexual contact with an infected person symptoms may appear within weeks, months or not at all.

How can you prevent it?

You can reduce the risk of contracting HPV

• Have only one partner
• Use condoms
• Recieve HPV Vaccine

You can Prevent HPV by practicing abstinence.

What are the signs and symptoms?

Most people who have HPV will not have symptoms. The virus lives in skin and muscus membrances and doesn't usually cause symptoms. Low-risk types of HPV may cause genital warts. High-risk types may cause cell changes that sometimes lead to cervical and certain other genital and throat cancers.

What is the outlook/prognosis

Most HPV infections go away within eight to 13 months but not all. Uncleared HPV infections can remain dormant for years. 90% of HPV positive people will become HPV negative within 6 to 24 months. It is unknown if the virus is eminated due to effective immune response or if it is just present in extremely small numbers.

Give me some numbers...

• 20 Million people are infected
• By age 50 80% of women will have had HPV
• About 6.2 million new genital HPV cases occur each year
• Over 5,000 women each year die of cervical cancer in the United States.
• HPV is so common that about three out of four people have HPV at some point in their lives.

And....

Most women recover from HPV infections and many women develop immunity against different types of HPV that they have been exposed to. It is not fully known why some women develop long term HPV infection, precancerous abnormal cell changes, or cervical cancer. Women who have damaged immune systems are at higher risk for cervical cancer. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of cervical cancer.

Curious as to if you have cervical cancer ladies? Get your pap smears. Girls should consider getting Gardasil if not already sexually active.

See that wasn't so bad.