Important info about HPV

May 29, 2008 | By valmg |

When I went to the ob/gyn recently I noticed there were brochures about HPV, human papillomavirus. The doctor I see recommends every woman over thirty years of age have this test. Curious to learn more about it, I decided to do a bit of research after I got home.

Cervical cancer is caused by human papillomavirus, which I’ll be abbreviating as HPV from here forward. If you’re like many women, including myself, you probably thought that by having an annual pap smear you were taking a test that would check for early forms of cervical cancer. When I learned about the HPV test I wondered why it was recommended women have both the PAP and HPV tests. As I was to learn, the HPV test actually looks for the virus that causes cervical cancer, while the PAP only checks if the cells of the cervix are normal or abnormal.

It’s great that there’s a test that looks specifically for the HPV virus, because there are more than 100 types of the virus. About thirty of them are spread by having sexual contact. Some of the types cause cervical cancer and some of them cause genital warts. Some even cause the warts that some people get on their hands. Two things I was surprised to learn were that both men and women can get the HPV virus, and that an estimated 50% of the population will have had one of the genital types of the HPV virus at some time in their life. That’s a scary number.

Because there are so many kinds of the HPV virus, it’s especially important that women get tested regularly. This way any potential problems can be monitored and treated. The cancer causing types of HPV must be active for a long time for the risk of getting cervical cancer to increase. As you can see from the short video clip below, people may not look or feel like they are sick.

WPvideo 1.10

There’s a lot more to know about HPV than I’ve written here. It’s most important that women of all ages be educated and aware of the HPV virus. You can learn more about the HPV virus, including tests, risks, symptoms, treatments and personal stories, by visiting theHPVtest.com website.