What exactly is hpv and does it really mean you'll eventually get cancer?

The human papiloma virus typically does not cause any problems that are noticed immeditately. It was only recently that it was noted to play any kind of role. It has now been linked to greater liklihood of cervical cancer. That was the main reason a vaccine was developed. Does having it guarantee you will get cervical cancer…. they don’t think so. But it certainly does put you at higher risk.

Here is some useful information from the Centers for Disease Control. HPV is a broad term that defines a number of different strains. Some strains cause simple warts, like on your hands and feet. Others are better adapted to the genital area, and are transmitted sexually. Of the ones transmitted sexually, some are more likely to eventually cause dysplasia (in english, a change in the cells to a more abnormal appearance) or even cancer. Pap smears have long been used to determine if a woman has abnormal cells, and should be a routine part of gynecologic care for most women. The vaccine (Guardasil) is available to reduce the likelihood of developing an infection with a cancer-causing strain, but is likely to be more effective if given to girls before they become sexually active. It is also important to note that many women who have HPV either eliminate it naturally, or never go on to develop problems (i.e. dysplasia or cancer).

The youngest girl I know personally dx’d with stage 1 cervical cancer was 22 at the time if her diagnosis. Her doctor certainly felt it was hpv-related. Certainly nothing to fool around with.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) CAN cause cervical cancer. It also causes genital warts and can cause a weakened immune system. There are many strains and only a few can actually cause cervical cancer. If your blood work indicates you have HPV, tell your doctor you want to know which strains. They seem to try to avoid providing that information, but you can INSIST. Read the article on it on the CDC website.

@thriftymaid I wonder why doctors would avoid telling you which strain you have? That seems like an important thing to know!

@ItalianPrincess1217 I agree that everyone should be told. It takes a more extensive blood test. Patients just need to know to demand it. Once you know which strains you have, it’s easy to research and see the problems that may be ahead of you.

Let me correct a few things.
1. HPV does not “cause a weakened immune system” as mentioned above. There is no evidence of this in the medical literature.
2. Blood tests for HPV are fairly useless. All they can tell you is that you’ve been exposed, some time in the past, to HPV. Your body may have cleared the virus (as many women do), but the blood test would still be positive. Likewise, a negative blood test doesn’t exclude having HPV (some people don’t mount an appropriate immune response).
3. Knowing which subtype is present at any one time is also not entirely helpful, as many people can have one subtype at one point, and a different one at another point.

In unvaccinated sexually active women, annual Pap smears are vital to determine if cervical changes are occurring the increase the risk of cancer, irrespective of blood tests or initial subtyping.

HPV doesn’t always turn into cancer. There are a lot of strains of it and a handful of them do if they’re not treated or watched. I have HPV and it has turned into what is called severe cervical displasia… Which I am having surgery to remove because if I don’t it will become cancerous. Right now it’s just pre-cancerous.

Guardasil I probably spelled that wrong is a shot that can help prevent some of those strains of HPV, but if you already have HPV it will not prevent it from becoming cancerous.

Some strains of HPV are actually what is known as genital warts.

@andreaxjean Can the strains that cause genital warts still cause cancer?

@ItalianPrincess1217 Yes, they are one and the same.

P.S. I’m an Infectious Diseases doctor…

@shilolo has given you good information. I’m a GYN nurse practitioner, so I see women with HPV a lot.

HPV Human Papilloma Virus has more than 100 strains aka subtypes they’re viruses, and can be dormant for a long time and just like a cold virus can be transmitted by someone who has no obvious sign of carrying the virus. Condoms give only partial protection, because they’re only a barrier for penis and vagina – theyre’s a lot of other skin that comes in contact during sex and HPV can be transmitted that way.

Because of all this, it’s the most common STD out there, although some people never develop clinical disease like a visible wart or abnormal pap and as shilolo mentioned, healthy people will frequently clear the virus from their system after a year or two.

One study done on college women found that 29% of them showed lab evidence of HPV infection from their first partner. It’s estimated that 75–80% of sexually active adults will acquire a genital HPV infection before age 50 again,based on lab evidence.

Two strains cause 80–90% of external genital warts aka condyloma and there are about 30 strains that can infect the cervix and cause abnormal Pap smears. Of the cervical HPV strains, 15 of them fall into a group categorized as high risk for progressing into cancer. The others are considered low risk, in that they may cause some mildly abnormal cell changes, but will usually clear without treatment and aren’t likely to become fullblown cancer. Even the high risk types can clear up on their own while it’s still in the pre-cancerous phase.

When I order high risk HPV testing, my lab does what’s called a DNA probe on a liquid based pap smear sample and the report tells me whether it’s positive or negative for the presence of one of the 15 high risk types. It doesn’t specify which one. Identification of a specific strain might be available in a research setting, but not in typical clinical practice, because from a practical point of view, it doesn’t matter. We can’t treat the virus, only the cell abnormalities that might develop as a result of the virus.

TMI?

@MagsRags Great information!

Asking individual people on this site will give you far less information than what you’ll find with a few searches on the internet. And no, it doesn’t lead to cancer, though it increases one’s chances of cancer. Get the injection, if you’re not too old for it. (But then again, I don’t recommend crowdsourcing strangers for medical advice)

@Provlear Really? Internet searches are better? Maybe you should revisit your knowledge base. HPV actually does lead to cancer directly via expression of viral oncogenes. This typically occurs in the setting of viral integration into the human genome. But yeah, you can get that kind of information from a random web search.

I was only contradicting that she may have thought 1:1 causation. And yes, I think that there is far better information available on the internet about this (some previous commenters have pointed out the CDC) than asking strangers.

@Provlear No offense , but it seems to me that we have 2 docs, one who is an infectious disease specialist, and a gyno nurse here. I am fairly sure these are highly educated professionals that know what they are talking about. I think there are people here that have studied for years and are quite qualified to educate the average public citizen about a very common STD effectively. The collective is a beautiful thing. Please don’t insult professionals that take time out of their busy schedules to share such important information that pertains to nearly all sexually active people, and please don’t discourage sexually active people who are not educated from asking such important questions. It is information that will benefit a lot of people, myself included. I was under the impression condoms would protect me. I’ve learned something just by reading.

PS This will show up in searches, and might be the answer someone is searching for.

I didn’t insult anyone on here, guys. Nor did I say there weren’t good answers on this very page. I simply said that asking strangers is less wise than going to a knowledgeable source. Yeesh.

@Provlear there are some excellent sources available on the net that provide accurate evidence based information, including the cdc, the mayo clinic website, and webmd.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of sites with questionable information, some that are trying to market products and some that focus on individual stories – you tend to get a mix of facts and opinion, and no way to tell the difference.

And even on the best sites, you may have unanswered questions after reading the information. What then? Some folks can ask their health care provider and get accurate answers. Some can’t.

When medical questions get asked here on fluther, I am frequently impressed with some of the answers – accurate, easy to follow and often with sources cited.There are also usually some answers with incorrect information due to a misunderstanding of the reliable web resources or shooting from the hip based on a magazine article or what someone’s sister says a doctor told her.

When it comes to medical information here, it’s always good to ask yourself or the poster What’s your background experience with this? and/or Sources please?

@MagsRags Or you could avoid trusting in strangers with possibly mythical certification and go straight to a reliable source.

@Provlear You’ve been a breath of fresh air. Thanks.

@shilolo No problem! Though I think it important to note that my contribution is certainly minor compared to the effort others have posted in this very thread. And might I add that you’ve done a wonderful job of making a new member feel welcome? But most importantly, best of luck to the OP.

@Provlear that’s the thing about being a new member. We all feel like strangers. If you stick around for awhile, and listen thoughtfully, you’ll get to know people. That’s one of the things that make it a community. You can get a very good feel as you read and participate over months for whether folks know what they’re talking about, and just as important, whether they are honest about it when they don’t know.

@Provlear I’ve been part of fluther long enough to know what I should and shouldn’t ask on here. Example: If I were experiencing intense pain in my stomach or, let’s say, throwing up blood, I would obviously take myself to the emergency room. But because this wasn’t an emergency and doesn’t directly involve me, I think it’s more than safe to ask my fellow fluther friends about this topic. There were great answers here. 2 of which were from qualified specialists. And FYI, I did a google search before asking fluther and was left feeling confused. Every site said something different. Many sites didn’t offer the information I was looking for. So I have no regrets. Fluther gave me much more info than google.

It’s a life long virus that can cause cancer if it’s a certain type of strain. Some of the strains do show symptoms such as genital warts but most of the strains show no symptoms at all.

It’s important to get checked every year because like you said it is possible to carry it and not show any symptoms for many years. And it can be cancerous.

Not all strains cause cervical cancer but almost all cervical cancer is caused by HPV.

Hope that helps a little.