Beware:
Smoking cigarettes also makes HPV more likely to cause cervical cancer.
Frequency
- Nearly every sexually active person has HPV
- It is the most common sexually-transmitted infection
- More than 40 types of HPV can be spread sexually.
Contagion
- Vaginal, anal, or oral sex
- Skin-to-skin contact
- Most types of HPV have no symptoms and cause no harm, and your body gets rid of them on its own.
- But some of themcause genital warts; infect the mouth and throat; cancer of the cervix, penis, mouth or throat
Prevention
- Three vaccines (Cevarix, Gardasil, Gardasil-9) protect against these cancers
- Gardasil and Gardasil-9 also protect against genital warts, vaginal cancer, and anal cancer.
- Young women ages 11 to 26 and young men ages 11 to 21 get vaccinated for HPV.
Low risc HPV
- Most genital warts are caused by two types of HPV — types 6 and 11
Symptoms
- Warts look like fleshy, soft bumps that sometimes resemble miniature cauliflower.
- They’re usually painless and can be treated and removed just like the warts you might get on your hands or feet
- May cause irritation and discomfort
High Risc HPV
Symptoms
- High-risk HPV doesn’t have symptoms
Symptoms of HPV related Cancer
- Cancer of the penis: Changes in color or thickness of the skin of your penis, or a painful sore on your penis
- Anal cancer: Anal bleeding, pain, itching, or discharge, or changes in bowel habits
- Vulvar cancer: changes in color/thickness of the skin of your vulva. There may be chronic pain, itching, or there may be a lump.
- Throat cancer: throat, ear pain that doesn’t go away, constant coughing, pain or trouble swallowing or breathing, weight loss, or a lump or mass in your neck
Medical Examination
- Regular checkups are important.
- In many cases, cervical cancer can be prevented by finding abnormal cell changes that, if left untreated, could develop into cancer
- A Pap test can detect these abnormal cells in your cervix
Treatment
- There’s no cure for HPV
- Usually it takes several years for cancer to develop, and abnormal cells in the cervix can be detected and treated before they turn into cancer
Consequences
- High-risk HPV can cause normal cells to become abnormal. These abnormal cells can lead to cancer over time. High-risk HPV most often affects cells in the cervix, but it can also cause cancer in the vagina, vulva, anus, penis, mouth, and throat
