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What is HPV ?
By admin | August 29, 2007
No STD has received so little attention as HPV. And yet relevant studies show that HPV (human papillomavirus) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US, and most probably in the world. Estimates of HPV prevalence vary from 14% to 90% of the US population, and such a wide variation is a result of the nature of HPV. By some estimates,by the age of 50 more than 80% of American women will will get infected. At least 20 million people in US are already infected.
So what is HPV?
HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a group of over 120 different viruses that can cause different conditions from genital warts to cervical cancer. But not all types of HPV are dangerous, most of them are harmless.
In 1978 two types of HPV were isolated (HPV 5 i HPV 8), and two years later HPV type 6 was isolated. Modern medical science discovered more than 100 strains of HPV. It’s known that most of the strains don’t cause any symptoms and eventualy disappear from your body. Nevertheless HPV has no known cure.
Genital warts
Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Genital warts grow around the genital area of the infected person. Small, tiny, flesh-colored warts can appear on the vulva, and in the vagina and cervix. Sometimes genital warts tend to be very small, invisible to the naked eye.
Genital warts can be treated in a number of ways, but removing them won’t remove the virus from your system. Doctors recommend treatment because warts can grow if you don’t treat them.
One of the most common methods of genital wart treatment is cryotherapy. Cryotherapy is the application of extreme cold to destroy the abnormal tissue.
Basically doctors freeze those warts on a cellular level using liquid nitrogen, thus destroying them. Unfortunately genital warts are a symptom and can re-appear sometime in the future.
Topics: Sexuality, Uncategorized, Women's Health | No Comments »
