HPV Symptoms - Exploding the Myths

Perhaps the most important point to note about HPV symptoms is that in many cases there are none!

Both men and women can carry one of the strains of HPV that results in genital warts, or worse still, cervical cancer, yet show no signs or symptoms whatsoever. Yet they can be pursuing an active sex life and unwittingly passing on the virus to one sexual partner after another.

In fact, the most prevalent strains of HPV that have been linked to cervical cancer are the least likely to show any symptoms for many years. Between 3000 and 4000 women die every year from cervical cancer, which is often treatable if caught in its early stages. Medical researchers believe that this number is so high because most women have no idea they have cervical cancer until it's too late.

Remember that every time you have sex with a new partner, you are having sex with all the partners they had before you and all the partners those partners had...ad infinitum.

So before you swear off sex for the rest of your life, let's look at some of the misunderstandings and myths surrounding HPV.

The Truth About HPV

* Around 250 individual strains of HPV have been identified, but only a few of them lead to the most problematic medical conditions - genital warts in both males and females and cervical cancer in females.

* Genital HPV is only transmitted by sexual contact, or in a very small number of cases, by oral sex with a partner who is already infected. You CAN'T catch HPV from a toilet seat or from sitting where someone else who has HPV has been sitting.

* If you discover you have genital warts, it doesn't necessarily follow that your current sexual partner is the one who gave it to you. In most cases, the strains of HPV that cause genital warts can lie dormant in your system for many years before a breakout occurs.

A more realistic scenario is that you are the one who has unknowingly been passing on genital warts to your sexual partners while you've been blissfully unaware of its existence and at some future time they are going to blame their current partner for passing on the virus when, in fact, it was you.

* Contracting HPV does not mean you are promiscuous. You only need to have one sexual encounter to become infected with the virus. Obviously, the more you engage in frequent and unsafe sexual practices, the more likely you are to eventually come into contact with HPV or any one of a number of other sexually transmitted diseases.

So the logical solution is to always practice safe sex, particularly when you have a new sexual partner. Not only will a latex condom prevent you from the symptoms of HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases, it will help avoid unwanted pregnancy.

* Undergoing HPV treatment for genital warts is NOT a cure. Even if the warts have disappeared, you still carry the virus which means you can infect your sexual partner at any stage now or in the future.

* The HPV vaccine is believed to prevent all the recognized strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer in women. However, it doesn't guarantee to prevent cervical cancer in girls or women who have been sexually active prior to being vaccinated.

* The jury is still out on whether uncircumcised men are more likely to carry the virus. While a number of studies have produced statistics which suggest the partners of uncircumcised men are at greater risk of contracting the strains of HPV which lead to cervical cancer, many medical researchers believe the statistics are flawed.

Every individual is at risk of being exposed to HPV and displaying HPV symptoms. The most effective ways to protect yourself are by practicing safe sex and by knowing and understanding as much as possible about HPV, HPV symptoms and HPV treatments.