What Is Worth Knowing About The HPV Virus?
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. The numbers are alarming. It affects about 80% of all women by the age of 50. In the US, Two out of five sexually active people, Aged between 15 to 59 will have been infected by at least one type of HPV during their lifetime. Some won't even realize it.
HPV may be the most common sexually transmitted infection, but it's also the least understood. Many people don't know what it is and how it impacts their health. So, we created this detailed guide to help you learn about the HPV virus.
Here is everything you need to know about the human papillomavirus, or HPV.
What Is HPV?
HPV stands for Human Papillomaviruses, which includes over 100 related viruses. HPV is highly contagious and can be spread simply by intimate genital skin contact, through vaginal or anal penetration, or oral sex. So, HPV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
Symptoms Of HPV
Most HPV infections often go undetected because they do not cause any noticeable symptoms. For an HPV infection, the actual act of getting infected and the virus being in the skin or mucosal surfaces don't cause any symptoms. So, there is no way of knowing it clinically.
One way to detect HPV is genital warts caused by low-risk HPV. The low-risk genital HPV that causes warts is not an important cause of cancer.
However, over time, if the virus does not clear and the process of the virus infecting the cells leads to the development of cancer in the infected tissue, the symptoms of cancer develop.
Types OF HPV
There are many different types of HPV, some of which can cause anal, genital, or mouth warts or more serious conditions like precancers or cancers of the mouth, throat, cervix, vagina, anus, and penis.
HPV falls into two main categories:
- High Risk
There are nearly 14 types of high-risk HPV, including HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 68. While they all can result in cancer, two of these, HPV 16 and 18, significantly increase the risk of cancer. HPV 16 and 18 cause 99% of all cervical cancers.
- Low Risk
Low-risk HPV types include HPV 6 and 11. Low-risk HPV causes common skin issues like warts and abnormal growth on the skin. These viruses usually affect the hands and feet. However, different types of low-risk HPV also infect the genitals or the sex organs, leading to genital warts.
Side Effects Of HPV
On the outside of the body, these HPVs cause the most common sexually transmitted infections and illnesses, transmitted from one person to another through sexual activity. Some genital HPVs are low risk and may only cause warts on and around the genitals and anus of both women and men. These HPVs can also cause warts in the throat and mouth. This is a rare side effect, but it is still a possibility.
Other genital HPVs are high risk. They can lead to cancer of the lower end of a woman's uterus, called the cervix. Less commonly, these HPVs can lead to other genital, anal, or oral cancers in both women and men.
Both low-risk and high-risk genital HPV is spread through skin-to-skin contact during sex. The infected person transfers the virus to their partner during oral, anal, or vaginal sex.
How HPVs Work?
HPV enters the skin through tiny abrasions or cuts near or inside the throat, vagina, penis, or anus. The virus makes its way down to the cells in the bottom or base of a layer of skin and infects them, thus causing the infection. The virus starts replicating itself to spread the infection by causing the infected cells to divide and multiply. When these infected cells move to the outer layers of the skin, they cause warts.
In healthy individuals, the infected cells and the virus are usually destroyed by the body's immune system. But in some people, the immune system isn't able to destroy all of the viruses leading to an infection that doesn't go away. HPV infections can take many weeks or months to spread.
Low-risk HPV leads to skin warts on the hand, feet, and around the genitals. The high-risk HPV damages the cells and disrupts the genetic material of the cells, which causes precancerous growth over time. Depending on how strong and high-risk the virus is, this process can take anywhere from a few months to a few years. The damaged/infected cells sometimes also result in cancerous tumors if they continue to multiply. The most common cancer from high-risk genital HPV is cervical cancer.
Treatment Of HPV
There is no cure for any type of HPV infection; however, an HPV vaccine can help protect against two of the most common high-risk HPV that cause genital cancers. The vaccine also helps protect against two of the most common low-risk HPV that cause genital warts.
Many types of HPVs lead to common skin warts. Some also cause genital warts. As stated earlier, the body's immune system also fights HPV and may get rid of warts without any treatment. Visit a doctor or health care practitioner asap if the warts are painful or not going away. They will examine your condition and prescribe the best possible cure to treat warts.
Most of the time, common warts can be treated at home, but you should never treat genital warts yourself. Consult a certified medical professional to remove any skin or genital warts. Some common treatments for warts include:
- Freezing with cryotherapy
- Burning with an electric current called electrocautery
- Remove warts or abnormal growths with a loop wire, aka loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP)
- Laser therapy to kill any warts with laser
- Conization (also known as cold knife cone biopsy)
- Surgical removal
- Medicated prescription creams with imiquimod (Aldara®) and podofilox (Condylox®)
- Chemical treatments like Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) to burn the warts
HPV Vaccines
The HPV vaccine program, targeting the virus, was launched in 2006. Since then, the number of HPV infections that cause genital warts and cancers has dropped by 81% in adult women and 88% in teen girls. Research also shows that almost 90% of all cases of cervical cancer can be avoided through the use of vaccination.
Currently, there are three HPV vaccines approved by the FDA:
- Gardasil 9 (9-valent HPV vaccine, 9vHPV)
- Gardasil (Quadrivalent HPV vaccine, 4vHPV)
- Vervarix (Bivalent HPV vaccine, 2vHPV)
For best protection, preteen girls and boys should receive 3 doses of the vaccine over a period of six months before any sexual activity takes place.
How HPV Vaccine Works?
The HPV vaccine helps the body produce antibodies to fight the HPV virus. How does this happen? When you get the vaccine, it injects dead HPV virus proteins into the bloodstream. These proteins stimulate the immune cells to produce antibodies and fight infection when the body comes in contact with the HPV virus. So, these antibodies stay dormant in the body until they identify an HPV later. Once the antibodies recognize an HPV virus, they attach to them and kill them. The immune cells destroy the marked viruses, which prevents infection from happening. It is important to know that the vaccine only protects against the types of HPV included in the vaccine. The vaccine will work on the viruses not included in the vaccine. Moreover, the vaccine also cannot treat or cure the damaged and infected cells.
Pap Testing
High-risk HPVs cause cervical cancer in women. While the virus itself is not treatable, detecting it early on can help with an early cancer diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, sexually active women should get regular pap smears or pap tests to detect the presence of any abnormal growth or precancerous cells in the cervix. Note that pap testing is very important even if you have had an HPV vaccine.
During a pap test, the healthcare provider collects a small sample of cells from the cervix. The sample is then sent to a lab for testing, where the cells are microscopically examined to detect any abnormal or cancerous traits. At the same time, an HPV test is also performed to look for any sort of genetic material from high-risk HPV types. When an HPV test and pap test are performed together, it is called Co testing.
If the result of the pap test shows abnormal cells, consult a specialist that will recommend the right treatment based on age, medical history, and the level of abnormality of the cells. Contact your healthcare provider to schedule a pap test and learn more about it.
How To Prevent HPV?
There are many different ways you can keep yourself safe from HPV. Here are a few ways to protect yourself from catching an HPV virus:
- Vaccination: The absolute best way to protect yourself is by getting the HPV vaccine. Gardasil has been around for 10 years now, and it's proven to be safe and decrease rates of HPV infections, genital warts, and precancers.
- Practice Safe Sex: You can further reduce your risk of infection or lesions by limiting your number of sexual partners and always using a condom to reduce the risk of infection.
- Not smoking: Smoking reduces your body's ability to fight HPV infection and promotes the cancerous transformation in HPV-infected cells. So, if you're currently sexually active or if you have been sexually active in the past or will be in the future, you are at risk. Speak to your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist about getting vaccinated.
- Screening and Testing: Women and men between the ages of 19 to 55 should get tested for HPV regularly. Regular screening and testing can help you detect HPV at an early stage, preventing cancer.
- Protect your Partner(s): Inform your partner if you have HPV and do not indulge in any sexual activity during the treatment period. Also, make sure your partner gets tested as well. Talk to a health care professional about how you and your partner can practice safe sex if any one of you contracts HPV.
Tips To Manage HPV Virus
By now, you know that the HPV virus cannot be medically treated. However, there are ways to manage, improve, and get rid of the side effects of HPV. Here are three simple tips on how you can prevent the damage caused by the pesky and persistent HPVs:
- Vitamin B12
Studies show that Vitamin B12 is one of the critical nutrient deficiencies in individuals with a positive HPV test. B12 helps in the invasion of HPV, and it also plays a role in cellular changes in the mucosal membrane. Thus, taking Vitamin B12 supplements can play a huge role in improving your condition.
- Antioxidants
Antioxidants are anti-inflammatory agents that are critical to fighting the side effects of HPV. Antioxidants boost cell turnover and prevent the body from free radical damage, thus lowering the risk of precancers. Many studies show that antioxidants reduce HPV. So, try incorporating more antioxidant-rich foods into your diet.
- Stress Management
Many studies have been conducted addressing the role of stress in HPV. The studies revealed that both stress and depression affected the body's ability to eradicate HPV. From an immune perspective, we already know that stress decreases the immune response and lowers the immune capacity to respond to a virus such as HPV [Source: NCBI]. So, it is important to destress and relax to boost immunity so the body can fight off HPV.
Conclusion
HPV doesn't care how old you are, If you're a man or a woman, or whether you prefer having sex with a man or a woman. It can affect any sexually active person. And, you never know what type of HPV you have contracted, if it's high risk or low risk.
Therefore, you should take all the precautionary measures to prevent yourself from getting HPV. Get vaccinated, practice safe sex, and go for regular testing. If you do have HPV, know that it cannot be cured. However, there are ways to manage the side effects and treat any abnormal and cancerous cells.