The only thing I have ever heard about HPV is that in some women it may cause cervical cancer. Anything else?

Question

It is usually harmless isn't it?

Answer 1

For most people HPV is pretty harmless.

It can cause cancer including cervical cancer, as well as penile cancer, anal cancer, head and neck cancer. Cervical cancer is the main concern with HPV. All the other cancers are REALLY rare.

HPV can also cause warts, including genital warts. Genital warts are pretty harmless to a persons health though. They are more irritating and annoying to the person then anything. Warts are usually removed pretty easily, but they can come back sometimes once they have been treated.

Answer 2

Hi there,

They're not sure what causes cervical cancer, but HPV is associated with an increased risk. Most people with HPV do not go on to develop cervical cancer.

80% of women will have HPV at some point in their lives.

Answer 3

Can cause cervical cancer, penile cancer, throat cancer, vulvar and vaginal cancers. The vaccine for HPV may be a good thing because it would protect against most of the above cancers, but not all. Most of the time your immune system will get rid of HPV so it doesn't cause these things, but sometimes it stays in your body and causes cancer.

Answer 4

I am not sure I can see HPV as harmless, frustrating, costly, aggravating, embarrassing…maybe.

Most HPV infections do not progress to cancer…. knowing we carry the infection and can pass it to another sex partner many years down the road is frustrating…we don't know when our virus is active and no test can let us know. Men carry the virus most often with no visual signs. Men do play a link in the woman progression to cervical cancer...

From the American Cancer Society 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and it is estimated that 40,000 women will be diagnosed carcinaom in situ.

In the younger woman most all vulvar cancers are linked to HPV. Cutting a cutting a chuck out of the vulva is not fun…first hand experience here. About 800 women die due to vulva cancer...maybe not a high rate...but what if one of these women were you sister...mother? The risk of anal cancer is higher in women who have CIN 3. A gal doesn’t necesarrly have to engage in anal sex to have anal cancer…but the risk is higher…

I think Dr. Broker’s (President of the International Papillom Society) information on HPV is very accurate.

Women in the United States, for example, spend over two billion dollars each year on Pap smear cytology during routine preventive screening. Those having active HPV infections require three billion dollars cost in additional care in the form of colposcopic examination, biopsy, localized surgery or hysterectomy. Despite this intensive medical effort, about 4,000 American women die of cervical cancer each year, at a personal and social cost that is immeasurable. In that the family of genital HPV diseases appears to be sexually transmitted, men too harbor and express HPV in the form of penile and perianal warts and urethal papillomas. A subset of these lesions will also progress to cancers.

Perhaps the most tragic and challenging manifestation of HPV infection is laryngeal papillomatosis, which occurs in a small portion of the children born to women with genital warts, perhaps 500-2000 per year in the U.S. About 3000-4000 children and an equal number of adults remain under regular surgical care at any time, and a estimated total of 13,000 Americans have laryngeal and other airway infections


Papillomaviruses cause other types of lesions of the head and neck region, including the oral/pharyngeal cavity (gingiva, tongue, soft and hard palette and, especially, tonsils), the nasal mucosa, the conjuctiva of the eyes, and the ear canal. Some of these infections, especially in the nasal passages, can progress to invasive and fatal cancers. Under no circumstances should they be treated with irradiation. In cutaneous skin, virtually every human has had common warts on the hand and face, plantar warts on the feet, or flat warts on the arms, back and chest. These too can be cosmetically disfiguring, very uncomfortable or downright painful. Such infections are the clinical domain of dermatologists, podiatrists and pediatric infectious disease specialists. Again, billions of dollars are spent annually on professional and over-the-counter medical care. What is not fully appreciated by most people is that these lesions may go into remission after an active period of months or years, but they usually are not fully eliminated


New papillomavirus-associated cancers arise in about 600,000 patients in the world each year. When caught early in the disease process, they can be treated surgically. There are but few effective antiviral drugs, and prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines are only in the initial stages of development and testing.

www.ipvsoc.org