F.Y.I.- brief Q & A on HPV in the U.S.
What is Human Papilloma Virus?
“Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). The virus infects the skin and mucous membranes. There are more than 40 HPV types that can infect the genital areas of men and women, including the skin of the penis, vulva (area outside the vagina), and anus, and the linings of the vagina, cervix, and rectum. You cannot see HPV. Most people who become infected with HPV do not even know they have it.”
-taken from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention site
What are the symptoms/consequences of HPV?
Most people with HPV do not develop symptoms or health problems. It is so prevalent in our country that most cases of HPV go undetected for years. That is why it is so important for females to have an annual pap smear and examination through your gynecologist. In some cases, certain types of HPV can cause genital warts in men and women. Other HPV types can cause cervical cancer and other less common cancers, such as cancers of the vulva, vagina, anus, and penis. The types of HPV that can cause genital warts are not the same as the types that can cause cancer.
HPV types are often referred to as “low-risk” (wart-causing) or “high-risk” (cancer-causing), based on whether they put a person at risk for cancer. In 90% of cases, the body’s immune system clears the HPV infection naturally within two years. This is true of both high-risk and low-risk types.
How does HPV cause genital warts and cancer?
***HPV can cause normal cells on infected skin or mucous membranes to turn abnormal. Most of the time, you cannot see or feel these cell changes. In most cases, the body fights off HPV naturally and the infected cells then go back to normal.***
** This is a very important fact to be aware of. If a woman gets a pap smear and HPV cells are found, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she will have genital warts or formulate cancer. The body is built with its own immune system to fight off the disease. Many cases of women having HPV go away after about 6 months due to their immune system fighting off the virus. It is suggested that one must maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine which will build up an immune system to make your body more healthy.
On the other hand, if a woman has low-risk HPV, it may cause her to have visible changes on her body that formulate into genital warts.
If a high-risk HPV infection is not cleared by the immune system, it can linger for many years and turn abnormal cells into cancer over time. About 10% of women with high-risk HPV on their cervix will develop long-lasting HPV infections that put them at risk for cervical cancer.
Similarly, when high-risk HPV lingers and infects the cells of the penis, anus, vulva, or vagina, it can cause cancer in those areas. But these cancers are much less common than cervical cancer.
How common is HPV in the U.S.?
HPV infection. Approximately 20 million Americans are currently infected with HPV, and another 6.2 million people become newly infected each year. At least 50% of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives.
Genital warts: About 1% of sexually active adults in the U.S. have genital warts at any one time.
Cervical cancer: The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2008, 11,070 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S.
Other HPV-related cancers are much less common than cervical cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2008, there will be:
3,460 women diagnosed with vulvar cancer;
2,210 women diagnosed with vaginal and other female genital cancers;
1,250 men diagnosed with penile and other male genital cancers; and
3,050 women and 2,020 men diagnosed with anal cancer.
Certain populations may be at higher risk for HPV-related cancers, such as gay and bisexual men, and individuals with weak immune systems (including those who have HIV/AIDS).
THE HPV VACCINE:
-A vaccine can now protect females from the four types of HPV that cause most cervical cancers and genital warts. The vaccine is recommended for 11 and 12 year-old girls. It is also recommended for girls and women age 13 through 26 who have not yet been vaccinated or completed the vaccine series.
-There are important steps girls and women can take to prevent cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine can protect against most cervical cancers (see above).
-There is currently no vaccine licensed to prevent HPV-related diseases in men. Studies are now being done to find out if the vaccine is also safe in men, and if it can protect them against HPV and related conditions. The FDA will consider licensing the vaccine for boys and men if there is proof that it is safe and effective for them.
information taken from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention organization focusing on sexually transmitted diseases.
***I hope this information was helpful. I will provide more Q & A topics at a later time.
Are there any questions from the viewers that they would like to know about HPV?
Kayla,
Great topic choice here. Only when I was recently diagnosed with HPV myself, did I realize the prevalence of this disease. I had started the guardisil series while I was in college, but when I was in transition and moved to a new city I did not complete it. When I started the vaccine series I didn’t even know what it was for or what HPV was. I wish my doctor had taken a minute to really impress upon me its prevalence and what a great risk I was at, being sexually active. After I was recently diagnosed and subsequently had to have a biopsy, I became much more aware and interested in the disease. I am a high school teacher and I made a point to talk about it with the female students in my advisory. I also used statistics about the disease in class for examples and students were really surprised at their “likelihood” of contracting the virus.
An interesting perspective that I hope you have made note of, is that while HPV is still a big threat to us in the US, we really have come a long way. My doctor told me that cervical cancer is the #1 leading cause of death in women worldwide. In the US it is the #8 cause of death — because we do take so many precautionary measures like regular testing, pap smears, biopsies, etc… I think that says a lot of good about what we’re doing to prevent women from reaching the cervical cancer stage. Still, you’re right, we need to do a lot more to make people aware of HPV so that cancer is even less of a risk to begin with.