Some people recover from HPV infections without experiencing any health problems. Their symptoms of genital HPV infections disappear themselves within 6 months. This is because the infections may have caused their bodies to develop immunity as a natural protection against different types of HPV. In other words, when the immune system is strong, the warts that are inside the body (either the vagina or anus) are prevented from forming, but the virus is still present in the body.
How many People are infected with HPV?
According to the American Social Health Association, they estimated that 20 to 40 million of Americans, at any given time are infected by HPV. It is estimated that 5.5 million will contact it through sexual contact each year, making HPV the most common STD in the world. Approximately 60% of sexually active women may at high risk of HPV infection. Male may also be infected but its statistics are unclear as it is harder to test for HPV in males than females. Another research conducted by Dr. Robert Burk at Albert Einstein College of Medicine concluded that one in five American adults have a genital HPV infection.
HPV types 16 and 18 are found to cause over 90% of cervical cancer in women worldwide with 450,000 new cases and 200,000 deaths each year. HPV is the culprit in cervical cancer that kills approximately 3,700 American women each year. It is estimated that more than 25 million women and 6 million men in the United States are infected with HPV each year. That means that one out of every four females in the United States may have HPV.
How Can You Get HPV?
HPV is passed on by skin to skin genital contact or rubbing through vaginal, anal and oral sex with a partner who already has HPV. As HPV is spread through close genital contact, condoms sometimes provide unsecure protection against viral infection. Furthermore, area not shielded by a condom can expose you to HPV virus. The transmission can also occur from sores, ulcers or infected skin that appears normal.
HPV can be contracted by one person, but it takes months or years later to transmit to a new partner as it usually causes absolutely no symptoms. HPV is said to transmit with or without the warts visible. HPV infections are often unseen, unobserved and unexpected to transmit by sex partners who are not aware that they are infected. A pregnant mother who is infected with HPV virus can also transmit the virus to her infant during vaginal childbirth. This is because the pregnant mother might experience a rapid growth of genital warts during pregnancy due to the change in her hormone levels. Therefore, this condition must be monitored carefully particularly during delivery to avoid transmission of virus to her infant.
When the immune system is weakened by diabetes, Hodgkin's disease, an organ transplant, or other serious health conditions, HPV infections through skin and sexual contact may cause you experiencing an increase in the size and number of warts within the infected areas, and you might have a possibility to experience more frequent recurrences of warts or growths. An immune disorder such as HIV/AIDS is also prone to HPV infection.
As HPV is a protein coated by a hard shell, its survival is extremely strong and thus it can penetrate easily into the skin pores of humans and animals. At room temperature, even in a condition of dehydration for one day, its infection can reach as high as 100%. After 3 to 7 days, it still has an infection effect towards living things either through close genital contact or any other non-living things which are contaminated with HPV viruses. There have been numerous reports of HPV infections from tanning beds, shared clothing, bed sheets and so forth. Therefore, personal hygiene includes washing hands regularly for example, is important to protect yourself from getting HPV viruses.
The HPV can also be infected by touching doors, elevator's button, toilet bowl or anything that can be easily accessed by the public. You are advised to put on a layer of tissue paper, toilet roll or cloth before sitting on the toilet bowl. If you accidentally touch on any public facility's objects, make sure you wash your hands immediately to avoid the risk of getting HPV virus. If you stay overnight in a hostel, hotel or any other public places, do not use their prepared towels, blankets, clothing as they may have contaminated with HPV virus. You and I may get it without knowing it since there might not be any signs to show that you and I have HPV even if years have passed and the virus makes use of the objects and humans as a medium to pass on to another person. Therefore, you should always take such safety steps to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of HPV.
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