HPV Symptoms – Exploding The Myths
Perhaps the most important point to note about HPV symptoms is that in many cases there are none!
Both men and women can carry one of the strains of HPV that results in genital warts, or worse still, cervical cancer, yet show no signs or symptoms whatsoever. Yet they can be pursuing an active sex life and unwittingly passing on the virus to one sexual partner after another.
In fact, the most prevalent strains of HPV that have been linked to cervical cancer are the least likely to show any symptoms for many years. Between 3000 and 4000 women die every year from cervical cancer, which is often treatable if caught in its early stages. Medical researchers believe that this number is so high because most women have no idea they have cervical cancer until it’s too late.
Remember that every time you have sex with a new partner, you are having sex with all the partners they had before you and all the partners those partners had…ad infinitum.
So before you swear off sex for the rest of your life, let’s look at some of the misunderstandings and myths surrounding HPV.
HPV Men – The Proof You Need Protection
Genital human papilloma virus (or HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Statistics indicate that up to 90% of males and females come into contact with HPV at some point in their life if they have been sexually active. And in many of these cases, they unwittingly pass it on to their partner.
But the good news is that the vast majority of the 250 recognised strains of HPV cause no symptoms, signs or illness and our immune system works to destroy the infection with no side effects. However, medical researchers have isolated 15 strains of the virus that can lead to serious health risks.
When it comes to the consequences of HPV, men are relatively fortunate because the most serious strains of HPV can lead to cervical cancer and death in women. Every year around 3000 to 4000 women die from cervical cancer, and in 70% of these cases, the cancer is directly related to HPV.
What are the Dangers of HPV?
HPV testing for women
HPV testing for women
Many doctors will argue that testing for HPV is an art, not a science. This simply means that there is no precise, one hundred percent accurate way to test for HPV.
The most common symptoms of HPV, being warts, are generally easy to identify. Be they common or genital warts, they’re easily spotted by their conspicuous cauliflower like appearance.
Even so, if you suspect that you have contracted HPV, it is a good idea to have your doctor verify this. Oftentimes, what may be a simple blemish, a pimple, or something else entirely may be misidentified as a wart, and the wrong treatment may be applied, as such, it’s always wise to attain a professional’s opinion.
That said, warts are not the primary concern in HPV testing for women. The primary concern is the risk of HPV types 16 or 18 developing into cervical cancer.
A lot of attention is paid in the media to the problems of breast cancer, of HIV, and, more recently, of Swine Flu. It seems odd, then, that so little attention is paid to cervical cancer and HPV, as, every year, cervical cancer kills an estimated forty thousand women. The vast majority of these cases are linked to human papilloma virus.
Talking to your Sex Partner about HPV
Here is one of the simple truths of love and sex in the modern world: You need to be willing to have frank, open discussions with your partner about all matters relating to sex.
To put it bluntly, it’s not the 1950’s anymore, and it’s not a great idea to be shy or ashamed when it comes to talking to your partner about sex. If you’re a little bashful about it, remember, they talk about this stuff on daytime TV, so why be embarrassed over talking about it with the person you take to bed?
You should be willing to talk about every possible detail of your sex life with your partner, be willing to listen, and put no subject out of bounds. This is true when discussing more personal details of satisfaction, but especially true when it comes to issues of health.
If you have, or have had in the past, HPV, you need to tell any new sex partner before intercourse occurs. We know that all of this sort of clinical advice can be difficult to put to work in the real world. There’s no better way to spoil that “first time” mood than to say “Oh by the way, I have genital warts, but it’s all cleared up, now!”
HPV Testing for Women
Women, get a pap smear and an HPV test at your next opportunity. Do not put it off or deem it unnecessary.
Sorry if we seem a bit militant on this front. All men have to worry about when it comes to HPV is the problem of dealing with an ugly infection. In women, HPV can be fatal.
It is estimated that cervical cancer affects 473,000 women every year, killing 253,500 women. Most of these cases are directly linked with genital HPV.
To put that in perspective, breast cancer kills about 519,000 women a year. Breast cancer gets a lot of media attention because of its high casualty rate, but efforts against HPV and cervical cancer have not enjoyed the same amount of attention, and this has led many women to neglect regular testing.
The major problem here tends to be the misconception that HPV means genital warts. Several strains of HPV can lead to genital warts, but the types that can lead to cervical cancer do not show any visible symptoms whatsoever, and can only be effectively identified by a pap smear.
In that few men have ever died of HPV related conditions, men can more easily get away with saying “I trust my partner, I’m safe”, but this is not an option for women. Remember that when you have sex with a new partner, you are having sex with everyone they have ever had sex with. Your boyfriend or husband may have been tested negative for HPV, but, again, the types of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer show absolutely no visible signs, and would be nearly impossible to detect in men.
HPV Testing for Men
One of the first things you need to know about HPV testing for men… is that you need to be tested before you can be certain.
If you have any degree of sexual experience, getting tested is a good idea. You can’t just inspect yourself, trust that you don’t have anything, and forget about it. HPV can remain dormant for years, decades, even a lifetime without showing any symptoms, but can still be contagious. In women, it is the types of HPV that actually have no symptoms that can lead to cervical cancer.
Luckily, most genital HPV types are harmless. In fact, it’s estimated that anywhere from one third to one half of all sexually active adults have contracted a benign form of HPV at one point or other. However, this isn’t the case with all HPV types, so it’s important to get tested.
Should I get Tested?
HPV Prevalence by Country
You’ve probably contracted HPV at some point in your life. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve contracted genital HPV, too.
Shocked? Don’t be. More than half of all adults have had “common warts” at one point or other, warts that affect the hands, feet, elbows or knees. That’s why they call them common warts. They’re uncomfortable, but they’re really no big deal.
As for genital HPV, believe it or not, there are actually several types of HPV that affect the genitals, but which do not lead to warts, do not lead to cervical cancer, and are basically harmless in every way, shape and form.
To list the HPV statistics in different parts of the world …
Australia
Home Remedies to Never Try
Look, when it comes to hand warts, warts on your elbows, your knees, the soles of your feet, you can go ahead and cry whatever crazy concoction you may have read about on the internet. A few of those home remedies are sort of effective, and most of them don’t work, but you at least don’t stand to hurt yourself in the process of self-medicating your HPV infection.
But… when it comes to genital HPV, we can only recommend, in good conscience, real medical attention. Still, if you insist on getting your HPV treatment advice from the big book of home remedies or some such, we urge you to at least consider the following… and strike them right off the list of possible home remedies…
Foodstuffs
One of the more popular home remedies for common warts is to apply certain things from the kitchen to the infected area. You can tape a piece of garlic to a wart, dip it in vinegar, or soak it in salt water. Surprisingly, some of this stuff kind of actually works. Foods with incredibly high acidic content do, in fact, have what it takes to burn away at warts.
Different Types of HPV
HPV isn’t just one condition or one disease. Human Papillomavirus spreads across a wide range of different infection types. The good news is that the most common types are easily treatable, and that many of the least common types tend to be essentially harmless, showing no actually symptoms.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll only focus on the types you need to be concerned about. These include the various HPV types that do show symptoms in the form of warts, and a few types which do not show symptoms, but which can lead to further complications. The fact is that there are a lot of HPV types that you simply don’t have to worry about, so we’ll focus on the more harmful or uncomfortable types which can be prevented, identified, and properly treated.
Common Warts
These are the types we’ve all had, types 2 and 7. They cause warts on the hands and feet, but they’re really not a big deal, they’re just ugly and uncomfortable. Some simple over the counter treatment can usually take care of them.
Anogenital Warts
Anogenital warts are a commonly misunderstood disease. Caused by Human papilloma virus types 6, 11, 42, 43, 44 and 55, among others, anogenital warts, sometimes simply called genital warts, are a type of genital HPV, but are only one small subsection of genital HPV.
Other types of genital HPV may lead to genital cancers, such as cervical cancer, while others may lead to no symptoms whatsoever. Luckily, the types that lead to anogenital warts do not lead to cancer.
That said, the presence of anogenital warts should not be taken as a sign that you do not have an HPV type that can lead to cancer. Multiple HPV types can affect an individual at once, and it is entirely possible to have both anogenital warts and developing cervical cancer from two or more different strains of genital HPV.
Anogenital warts tend to spread only through direct sexual contact. It is possible for anogenital warts to spread to the mouth, though it is somewhat rare.