Sexology 101 – HPV

Are you sexually active? Then there’s a chance that you’ll come into contact with the infamous sexually transmitted disease, Human Papillomavirus (HPV). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, www.cdc.gov, “20 million people are infected with HPV. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection.” The reason for so many people being infected with HPV is because it has little or no symptoms and will the infection will clear on its own.  HPV is a incurable virus that lives in the skin or mucous membrane, thus has minimal symptoms. However, if the symptoms are not caught, the virus may lead to warts or pre-cancerous changes in the female cervix, penis, or anus. If caught early on, pre-cancerous symptoms can be treated to ensure that it does not develop into cancer. Warts can be medically treated. For women, the most common way to detect HPV is at your regular Pap test. For men, there is no test. Usually men do not realize the possibility of having HPV until their partner has HPV or physical symptoms begin to appear on the penis area.            Women are at greater risk of HPV then men. HPV is the most common reason why women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and men with penile cancer. In 2004, an estimated 10,520 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,900 of them will die from the disease. Meanwhile, only an estimated 1,530 men were diagnosed with penile cancer in 2006.             Most women who have cervical cancer have not had a Pap test in years. Thus, allowing the cancer to grow beyond curable means. HPV may go undetected in a Pap test for years, so it’s important for women to have regular Pap test.             There is no cure for HPV. However, women who aren’t sexually active between the ages of 9-26 may receive a vaccine shot to prevent HPV by 100%.  ** Information on HPV was gathered from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention wesbite, www.cdc.gov.

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