What is Human Papillomavirus (HPV)?
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of more than 150 related viruses and each virus is given a number. Viruses are very small organisms, so small that a special microscope is needed to see them. The most common types of HPV are found on human skin and cause warts on hands, feet, arms and chest. Other types of warts are found on the body’s moist surface layers that line organs and parts of the body that open to the outside like the mouth, throat, vagina, anus and eyelids.
More than 40 of the 150 viruses are spread easily through direct skin-to-skin and during oral, vaginal and anal sex. Low-risk HPVs can cause all types of warts but the high-risk types can cause cancers. Most people who get an HPV infection will clear the infection. Their immune system will attack the virus and clear the infection within 2 years. Sometimes, the infection does not go away. A long lasting or chronic infection especially the high-risk HPV types can cause cancer over time.
Due to the many types of HPV, you may get several different types during your life. You can have the same type more than once but the chance of this is low.
You cannot get HPV from hugging or holding hands, sharing food or utensils, poor personal hygiene, swimming pools or hot tubs, or toilet seats. You can have HPV even if it has been years since you were sexually active and if you do not have any symptoms.
What are the symptoms of HPV?
Most people will never know that they have HPV. Most HPV types have no symptoms and most people will not develop health problems because of HPV. For most people, their immune system will attack the virus and clear the HPV infection within two years. This is true of both low- and high-risk HPV types. Sometimes the body does not clear the HPV infection.
The low-risk HPV type infections can cause warts on hands, feet, arms and chest, and genital warts. Warts can be treated. Warts caused by low-risk HPV types rarely turn into cancer. About 75% of the HPV types cause warts. The other 25% of HPV types infect the moist surface layers like inside the nose, mouth, throat and eyelids.
The high-risk HPV type infections usually have no symptoms, but this type of HPV can cause cells to change over many years. The changed cells may become cancer.
There is no treatment for the HPV virus itself. Warts and pre-cancer cells can be treated. Cancer in the head, neck, cervical, anal and genital areas can be treated too. It is easier to treat cancer when found early when it is small and has not spread.
