HPV
Human Papiloma Virus
- 90% of all sexually active men and women have been exposed to HPV.
- While HPV does cause cervical cancer, the risk of developing cervical cancer from the virus is still quite low.
- In 90% of women with HPV, the condition will clear up on its own within two years.
- The HPV vaccine, which has overwhelmingly been proven safe and can prevent devastating cancers linked with HPV.
Most cases of cervical precancer and cancer abnormalities are caused by infection with HPV. HPV is a virus.
Human papilloma virus (HPV) is transmitted during sexual intercourse with a person who’s already infected with HPV even when an infected person has no signs or symptoms. Most people who become infected with HPV do not know they have it. Anyone who is sexually active can get HPV, even if you have had sex with only one person.
non-oncogenic
HPV- 6 ,11
Cause venereal warts
There are over 120 different serotypes of HPV, but only fifteen serotypes can produce problems in humans:
Oncogenic (cancer causing)
HPV types- 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68
linked to precancerous and cancerous lesions.
Usually, the body’s immune system gets rid of the HPV infection naturally within two years.
Because of the body’s natural ability to fight infection, most HPV infections go away on their own.
These short-term infections typically cause only mild, or “low-grade,” changes in cervical cells.
This is true of both oncogenic and non-oncogenic HPV types. By age 50, at least 4 out of every 5 women will have been infected with HPV at one point in their lives.
When the body’s immune system can’t get rid of an HPV infection with oncogenic HPV types (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68) it can linger over time expressing its DNA.
This is called a “persistent” infection.
DNA tells your cells what to do and foreign DNA from a virus, tells your cells to do something different and turn normal cells into abnormal cells (dysplasia) which can then turn to cancer.
About 10% of women with HPV infection on their cervix will develop long-lasting HPV infections that put them at risk for cancer.
Factors such as cigarette smoking, a weak immune system, and infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are thought to increase the chance that HPV infection will persist, but persistent infections also occur in women without these factors.
Each cell in your body has its own DNA which tells your cells to function and grow like they are designed to.
HPV DNA when active tells your cells to do something different (like getting a virus in your computer), causes the cells to grow abnormally which then produces an abnormal pap smear or cervical dysplasia.
HPV-Related Cancers
- Gynecological cancers affect the female reproductive organs. Those linked to HPV include:
- Cervical
- Vulvar
- Vaginal
- Oropharyngeal cancers: Tonsils and the back of the tongue
- Rectal cancer
- Penile cancer
HPV VACCINE
Because HPV is widely transmitted in the US and it’s highly linked to cervical cancers, we recommend getting an HPV vaccination if you already are, or are planning to become, sexually active.
The HPV vaccine delivers a small amount of the inactive virus to guard against 9 types of HPV, which cause 70% of cases of cervical cancer and 90% of cases of genital warts. It is administered in two doses: the second 2 months after the first .
GARDASIL 9 is a vaccine indicated in females 9 through 45 years of age for the prevention of cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, oropharyngeal and other head and neck cancers and precancerous or dysplastic lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) Types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58; and genital warts caused by HPV Types 6 and 11.
GARDASIL 9 does not eliminate the necessity for vaccine recipients to undergo screening for cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, oropharyngeal, and other head and neck cancers as recommended by a health care provider.
The Center for Disease Control advises that girls get vaccinated well before they are sexually active – at age 11 or 12. It is strongly recommended for the sole reason that it is currently the safest and most effective method to prevent cervical cancer. Girls and young women over the age of 12 should get vaccinated as well, even if they are already sexually active. It is also recommended that men get vaccinated against HPV.