By Hannah Silver, originally posted on our Medium
HPV is a byproduct of being sexually active, and an incredibly common STI..
What follows is the information you need so you can return back to having great sex! Stay tuned for the following info: symptoms, transmission, prevention, treatments, and testing.
HPV is the most common STI, impacting approximately 80% of sexually active adults. Safe sex and testing are the keys to keeping you safe.
TL;DR đź“š
- What: Human Papillomavirus aka HPV
- Type of infection:Â Can be acute or chronic, treatable
- Symptoms: Usually asymptomatic. Can cause warts or lesions on genitals, hands, or mouth
- Transmission: Skin to skin contact, any kind of sexual activity
- Prevention: Barrier methods, vaccine
- Testing: Pap for people with cervixes; anal-rectal swab available for all people
- Treatment: Most strains clear on their own. High-risk strains have additional treatment options including further testing and removal of abnormal cells
Symptoms
There are at least 200 different strains of HPV, and the strains have varying impacts on human health. Most strains of HPV go undetected, expressing no symptoms, and before we know it, our immune system works to clear it from the body within a 1–2 years period. Shoutout to our bodies!
Other strains of HPV have physical symptoms and some carry health risks. A common symptom of HPV is warts. These bumpy, usually painless, sometimes itchy lesions may appear on the mouth, hand, vulva, penis, scrotum, anus, vagina, or cervix. In its most hazardous form, HPV, if undetected and untreated, may lead to increase the risk of developing cancers, including: cervical, penile, anal, vulvar, vaginal, and throat (including tongue and tonsils). The bad news is that these cancers can spread to other parts of the body and become deadly. The good news is that with proper prevention (vaccination) and regular visits to your gynecologist, HPV can be killed before it manifests into a potentially deadly cancer. There are treatment options for both low and high-risk HPV.
Transmission
You can get HPV by having sexual skin-to-skin contact with someone who has it. It could be during a steamy session of genitals rubbing or during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. There doesn’t need to be fluid exchange, semen, or an orgasm for transmission, just touching between “your vulva, vagina, cervix, penis, or anus and someone else’s genitals or mouth and throat.” It could also be transmitted in nonsexual situations by the virus entering your body through “a cut, abrasion or small tear in your skin.” Myths like contracting it because of supposed bad hygiene, hugging, holding hands, or kissing someone’s mouth are completely false. Additionally, contracting HPV isn’t a sign of cheating or having multiple sexual partners — HPV can be latent for years.
Prevention
The only way to 100% guarantee you don’t get HPV, just like any other sexually transmitted infection, is to never engage in sex. But, with viable prevention methods you can drastically lower your risk of contracting it, while still getting physical!
First, there’s the HPV vaccine. It prevents HPV types like 6 and 11, responsible for most genital warts, types 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58 responsible for HPV-related cancer, and types 16 and 18, responsible for the majority of cervical cancer cases. That’s worth the sting and redness of a shot! It is available and recommended for those with vaginas age 9 to 45, and those with penises age 9 to 26 (excluding those that are pregnant or ill). It is most effective at a younger age, before you become sexually active. But, if you did not receive it at a young age, it is still worth getting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “nearly all sexually active people will get human papillomavirus (HPV) at some time in their life if they don’t get the HPV vaccine.” If you haven’t had the vaccine and contracted a type of HPV, the vaccine can’t cure it. But, it can prevent you from getting other types of HPV and transmitting those to your sexual partner(s). Consult your healthcare provider for more information about the vaccine and to see if it is right for you!
Second, using condoms and dental dams can also reduce the risk of contracting and/ or spreading HPV (and other STIs). Having an STI or an otherwise weakened immune system, increases the odds of contracting HPV.
Third, because HPV isn’t always expressed through physical symptoms, many people don’t know they have it, which makes talking to your partners about HPV a must. Discussing your sexual health status and test results with a partner before sex, and knowing theirs, is an important safety practice that we highly recommend doing, in a safe, private setting. You can also get tested for STIs for free with your partner, in many states. Additionally, talking about your status with your partner not only keeps others safe, it initiates a respectful relationship and helps remove stigma around HPV and other STIs. Open communication with partners, barriers, vaccination, regular testing, and regular medical exams are all keys to having good, healthy sex!
Testing for HPV
Due to HPV often clearing on its own without any physical symptoms, it isn’t regularly included in routine STD tests, but is administered in certain instances. For those with vaginas, an HPV test may go hand in hand with your Pap test/smear. The Pap test swabs your cervix and checks for any cell abnormalities precancerous or cancerous, which may be caused by high-risk HPV. If your results find abnormalities, further HPV tests and treatments may follow based on the discretion of your physician. You may receive your results between 1–3 weeks later.
Generally, it is recommended that people age 21-29 with cervixes get a pap test every 3 years. Because HPV usually clears up on its own for this group, an HPV test may not follow. For people age 30–65 with vaginas, it is recommended to get a pap test every 3 years and an HPV test every 5, or pair them up for co-testing every 5 years. For people older than 65 with vaginas, it is recommended to get a pap test if you’ve never received one before or haven’t been tested since you were 60.
The recommendations or scheduling may differ based on your doctor’s advice and other factors. Please consult your doctor and go for regularly scheduled testing. For further information about Pap and HPV tests, check out, https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/pap-hpv-tests.
If you have a penis, there is no common HPV test, but there are still means to check your relationship with HPV. Usually people with penises never develop symptoms and the infection resolves itself. But, anal pap smears may be suggested for those who have HIV or who have anal sex on a regular basis, both of which are associated with increased risk of anal cancer. An anal Pap smear, similar to a cervical Pap smear, checks for any abnormal anus cells which may be caused by HPV. If you notice any abnormalities on your penis, anus, or mouth or find any warts, consult a physician.
Treatment and Follow-up
Symptoms of HPV, like warts, and larger health risks, like precancer or cancer can be treated. But, HPV cannot be cured. Your immune system will likely mitigate it on its own and taking care of your body by getting regular health exams and practicing safe sex should help this process. If you’ve contracted low-risk HPV and notice yourself with genital warts that aren’t going away, consult a medical professional who may prescribe a topical medication to apply to the area or in more severe cases, surgical or laser removal.
If your Pap/HPV test returns with results that show abnormal cells or high-risk HPV, it will be okay. It’s important to understand that just because your results are positive doesn’t mean you have cancer. Rather, it may mean you have an HPV type that increases your chances of getting cancer. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “a person may have had HPV for many years before it causes health problems.” The medical professional helping you will proceed with treatments that are appropriate and safe for you. This may include a colposcopy, a procedure which examines the cervix, vagina, and vulva, and samples tissue for further testing. In addition, there may be treatments to remove precancerous cells from the cervix, which allows for new, healthy cells to grow back! Abnormal cells may be treated by cryotherapy, removal by freezing, and LEEP (Electrosurgical Excision Procedure) removal by electric current. These treatments are administered by your doctor who will apply a numbing agent, place a speculum into your vagina to open it and proceed with tools on the cervix. It will be over before you know it, usually lasting between 5 to 10 minutes and feeling like mild to moderate cramping. LEEP and cryotherapy, about 85–90% of the time, are effective at removing abnormal cells, but it is important to return for follow up exams and regularly scheduled Paps to ensure your cells are normal and no further treatment is needed.
If you’re diagnosed with cervical, anal, penile, head and neck, throat or mouth, or vulvar and vaginal cancer, you and your doctor will decide the best steps for you. Suggested treatments may include laser surgery, microsurgery, radiation therapy, and/or chemotherapy.
The Bottom Line
HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection that usually is asymptomatic and resolves itself. Preventative methods include receiving the vaccine, regular testing, open communication with your sexual partner(s), and using protection. There are high-risk varieties of HPV that have physical symptoms and can lead to higher risks of cancer, but these can be tested and treated
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