HPV Treatment

There are well over a hundred different types of HPV. HPV which stands for Human Papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted disease. Like many other STDs, the HPV virus often does not have any signs and symptoms that you are able to see or feel. The HPV virus remains hidden in the epidermis. Some people will even clear the HPV infection through their body’s own immune response but many will develop genital warts. There is no test for HPV and men.

HPV in men

The HPV virus in men can be a troubling and depressing problem with many millions of men infected with the virus every year. It is highly contagious and the virus can be passed from one to another through skin to skin contact or unprotected sexual intercourse during oral, vaginal or anal sex. If genital warts are present, they can usually be diagnosed by a medical practitioner. If they are suspected but not visible, the application of acetic acid to male genital tissue will cause any infected areas to whiten, making any genital warts more visible. Although rare, high risk types of HPV may cause cancer of the anus.

What is the difference between the high risk and low risk types of HPV?

The genital HPV virus can be classified as either low risk or high risk. The low risk HPV can cause the genital warts while the high risk HPV can lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva vagina and anus in women. Human Paipillomavirus rarely causes serious health problems in men, with the exception of anal cancer in men who have sex with men. The HPV virus is equally common in men as it is in women.

Both high risk and low risk types of genital HPV can cause changes or growths on the tissue of a woman’s cervix and these growths are usually flat and invisible. High risk types of HPV can cause cell changes that lead to cervical cancer over time, if such cell changes are left untreated. Often these high risk HPV go away on their own. However some high risk HPV persist and become a factor for cervical cancer. Regular Pap smear tests will pick up such changes so that treatment can be commenced.

Low risk types of HPV can cause genital warts which can appear within weeks or even years after sexual or skin to skin contact with an infected man or woman. In women, these genital warts can grow inside or around the outside of the vagina, on the vulva, the cervix, the groin and in and around the anal area. In men, genital warts can grow on the penis, scrotum, thigh and groin or in and around the anus. Although rare, genital warts can even grow in the mouth or throat of someone who has had oral sex with an infected person.

Do all types of HPV cause genital warts?

Although there are so many different types of HPV, they do not all cause genital warts. In fact, many strains are relatively harmless. There are strains that cause common warts as well as those irritating plantar warts in the feet.

Can HPV be treated?

At the moment, there is no treatment or cure for HPV itself but there are plenty of different options for treating genital warts as well as treatment for any changes that HPV can cause on the cervix in women. There are of course treatments for the removal of all other every-day warts such as common, flat and plantar warts.

In additional, two somewhat controversial vaccines are now on the market called Cervarix and Gardasil. Both vaccines help the body fight infections with strains HYPV 16 and 18 while Gardasil also offers protection against HPV 6 and 11. These vaccines protect against the strains causing genital warts as well as cancers associated with HPV. Both can be used for females from the age of 10 while Gardasil can also be used on males between the age of 9 and 17 so as to prevent them becoming carriers of HPV too.

Every two minutes a woman dies of cervical cancer worldwide and all of them would have been exposed to the Human Papilloma Virus probably in their teens to twenties.

Using a condom may reduce your chances of being infected with HPV although condoms don’t cover all the vulnerable area of the genitalia. Sex should definitely not be practiced until all genital warts have been treated and have disappeared as it is thought that there is less chance of passing on the virus. However, the only 100% way of preventing the transmission of HPV is total abstinence from sex.