It is transmitted mainly through sexual contact and its manifestation initially creates nipples in various parts of the body.
There are over 100 different types of human papillomavirus.
What is the profile of the HPV virus?
HPV first causes papules in different parts of the body.
Some types infect the face and neck, while others infect the extremities.
Most HPV infections do not lead to malignancy. Some types can cause cervical cancer.
More than 40 types of the virus act on the outside and inside of the genitals.
Vaccination can greatly prevent the virus from infecting the genitals.
What are the symptoms of HPV in the genitals?
“In most cases, the body’s defense system fights the HPV invader on its own. Warts are skin lesions that commonly occur in the vulva and anus. “They can cause pain, itching or even make us feel uncomfortable.”
How do we get infected?
HPV is transmitted, in most cases, through sexual intercourse. There are also cases of infection of the newborn by the mother during a normal birth, if the mother has warts. Papillomas appear in the baby in the area of ​​the upper respiratory tract or in the genitals.
Are there any risk factors?
There are and are the following:
1. The number of sexual partners: the higher their number, the statistically increased the case of infection with the virus.
2. Age: In the age of 20-30 years the infection is very common, but with high rates of self-healing.
3. Skin lesions.
Weak immune system due to HIV infection or taking medicines to suppress the immune system.
5. Even simple contact with warts increases our risk of infection.
How can I find out if I have contracted the HPV virus?
It is possible to detect the virus with the test-pap, ie taking cells from the cervix. Cytologists can detect microscopic cell lesions from HPV. Also, with the help of the HPV-DNA test we can identify dangerous strains of the virus that can cause cervical cancer.
This test is recommended for women over 30, as a supplement to the test-pap. Also, to monitor the patient after HPV infection.
Suggested treatment
• The treatment of warts is their removal with diathermy, laser or cryocoagulation, surgical methods that provide an immediate solution to the problem.
• We can also get rid of them by using cream topically.
As for the cervix, in precancerous lesions, a local resection or laser treatment, almost always give a definitive solution. But the risk of re-infection remains.
• At an early stage of malignancy the cure rates are very high, thanks to the use of modern non-amputation techniques, which maintain fertility.
• When precancerous lesions of the cervix are diagnosed, treatment should be individualized according to age, degree of intraepithelial lesions and based on family planning.
The treatment, most of the time, is a small local resection of the lesions or the sublimation of the lesions with a laser. This treatment is common and definitive, in cases of onset malignancy.
• There are modern techniques, non-amputation, that lead to healing by maintaining fertility.
• “All this concerns secondary prevention. In terms of primary prevention there is vaccination. “We can start at a young age (from 9 years old), reducing the chance of transmitting the virus as vaccines have no side effects,” concludes Mr. Ivros.
Writes:
Mr. Stylianos Ivros, Director of the Gynecological Oncology Unit of the Metropolitan Hospital
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