Genital HPV infection is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and is caused by contact with another infected person during sexual activity. Sexual activity for HPV infection can be oral sex, anal sex or vaginal sex.
There are 100 different viral strains of HPV and more than 30 of those strains are sexually transmitted. The other strains are skin-to-skin transmitted.
Once contracted HPV genital warts can appear on both men and women in their genitals. In men, this means the inside or outside of their anus, the tip of the penis or shaft area of the penis, and also the scrotum. For women this includes inside and outside of the anus, cervix, vagina and vulva area.
Most persons who become infected with HPV will not even know they have it and the infection will clear on it's own without intervention; most, but not all.
Viruses can be low-risk or high-risk for cancer. High-risk infections will show as abnormal Pap test results in women. The low-risk may cause mildly abnormal Pap test results and also genital warts.
HPV is a very common, highly contagious viral infection. 20 million people are currently known to be infected with HPV. Men and women who are sexually active - 50% of them will contact HPV at some point in their sexual lives. By the time a woman arrives at age 50 she has a 80% chance of having had contact with HPV virus by that time. Each year in America, 6.2 million people will have a new case of HPV.
HPV is spread mainly by sexual contact during oral, anal or vaginal sex. It is also possible to spread HPV by skin-to-skin contact with the genital warts of HPV infection.
What are the signs of HPV infection?
It is difficult to tell when someone is infected with HPV, as there are little to indicate the infection. The virus is in the skin and mucous membranes of the infected person and do not usually cause any symptoms. Some but not all people will get a visible genital wart or multiple warts.
Warts are bumps on the inside or outside of sexual organs. They are usually flesh-colored, and moist. They may be raised or flat, small or large. Sometimes but not always they can resemble a cauliflower in shape. After infection the wart may appear within a few weeks, months or not at all.
A physician or other health care provider diagnoses warts on visual exam. Warts can disappear without any treatment, but some do require treatment depending on size and location.
Women can be HPV diagnosed when they receive their Pap smear tests. Should the Pap come back as being abnormal the physician will investigate HPV further by doing a HPV DNA test. This test is sometimes conducted at the same time as the Pap test, if there is the appearance of genital warts.
There is no cure for HPV infection. Genital warts may go away on their own or your health care provider may suggest one of several treatments based on location, size and number of warts.
