HPV can be transmitted from person to person through sexual contact involving genital to genital or genital to mouth touching with someone who is infected with HPV. Direct sexual intercourse is not necessary to spread HPV.
About Human Papillomavirus
- At least one in every two sexually active teen women has had at least one type of genital HPV infection.
- HPV in women can cause pre-cancers and cancers (cervical, vaginal and vulvar) as well as genital warts.
- While it is rare for men to show any outward signs of having HPV, they can also contract genital warts and some types of penile and or anal cancers when infected with HPV.
HPV Prevention and HPV Treatment:
- Gardisil is the only type of vaccine used to protect against 4 of the over 40 types of the genital HPV infection.
- The only way to 100 percent prevent contracting any type of HPV is through abstinence. Abstaining from sex and sex-related acts, is the only certain way that sexually active teens as well as adults can prevent contracting or spreading HPV infections
- Using a latex condom is the second most effective way to prevent catching or spreading HPV although it is not 100 percent effective. All sexually active teens should remember that both males and females can spread the disease. Even though males don’t typically show any sign of symptoms, it can be easily transferred. Remember that sexual intercourse is not necessary to pass the infection from person to person as long as there is some sort of genital to genital or genital to mouth contact involved.
- Getting screened regularly for HPV is one of the best methods to help prevent spreading the infection.
- There is no cure for HPV, but there is ways to prevent the disease and ways to treat the signs and symptoms, which can develop into genital warts and or cancerous cells.
The HPV Vaccine:
- Gardisil is the only vaccine that works to protect young women ages 9 to 26 against the two of the types of HPV that cause about 75 percent of cervical cancer cancers. It also works against 90 percent of 2 more types of HPV that cause genital warts.
- In young men ages 9 to 26, Gardisil can also help protect against 90 percent of the cases of genital warts.
- Gardisil is 70 percent effective in protecting females ages 9 to 26 in preventing vaginal cancers. It is also 50 percent effective in helping protect against vulvar cancer cases.
- Because Gardisil is not 100 percent effective, it does not protect against or prevent all types of HPV. This is why it is important for teens and young women and men to take part in routine HPV screening in addition to getting the vaccination.
When the HPV vaccine Gardasil was approved by the FDA to benefit girls as young as 9, many parents wondered why should the vaccine be given to such young girls. A study by the Center for Disease Control showed that teens are having sex at increasingly younger ages and contracting HPV, which is why it is important to immunize preteen girls as well as teens and young women with the HPV vaccine prior to them becoming sexually active. This can significantly reduce their risk of contracting HPV.
Sources http://www.cdc.gov, http://www.gardasil.com/, http://www.youngwomenshealth.org
