Types of HPV

• The HPV virus has more than 100 different strains. Many of the strains of HPV are harmless; they cause no signs, symptoms or illness and clear up on their own with time. However, certain types of HPV cause various side effects including genital warts, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer or vulva cancers.
  HPV types 16 and 18 cause approximately 70 percent of diagnosed cervical cancers in the United States. HPV types 6 and 11 cause approximately 90 percent of instances of genital warts, between 20 percent and 25 percent of cancers of the vulva, and 60 percent to 65 percent of other vaginal cancers.
  
  

Transmitting HPV

• Some types of HPV can be passed by skin-to-skin contact or by touching something or someone infected by the HPV virus. Genital HPV, including the types of HPV that cause genital warts and cervical and vaginal cancers, are spread through genital contact during vaginal or anal sex. Occasionally, pregnant women pass HPV to babies during delivery, but this method of transmission is rare.
  Both men and women can become infected or carry the HPV virus. Because the virus may have no symptoms, carriers often pass the virus along unknowingly.
  Those who have sex at a young age, engage in sex with multiple partners, or have sex with someone who engages in intercourse with multiple partners are especially prone to HPV.
  
  

Avoiding Transmission

• The best way to avoid transmitting or becoming infected with HPV is to limit your number of sexual partners and engage in sex only within a committed monogamous relationship.
  While condoms can help prevent the spread of genital warts and can lower your risk of transmitting HPV, condoms do not provide complete protection against the spread or transmission of HPV. The HPV virus can live anywhere on the skin in the genital area, including the scrotum, vulva and anus, and condoms do not necessarily prevent contact with infected skin. Female condoms may be more effective than male condoms, primarily because they further limit skin-to-skin contact.
  
  

HPV Vaccine

• While the HPV vaccine does not prevent the spread of all types of HPV, it can protect females from becoming infected with the four types of HPV that are the primary causes of genital warts and vaginal cancers. The CDC recommends the vaccine for females between the ages of 12 and 26 who have not been vaccinated or completed the vaccine series.
  
  

HPV Tests

• There is no general test for HPV. Instead, HPV-related symptoms are tested for. Genital warts are generally diagnosed upon visual inspection, and they can appear as small or large bumps around the genital area. Cell changes that can lead to cervical cancers are tested for in annual Pap tests. Generally, these cell changes can be identified early and the HPV can be treated before the illness progresses to cancer.