Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the name of a very common group of viruses. In fact, HPV infection is the most common STI. Most types of HPVs do not cause any problems, but some types can cause genital warts or cancer.
HPV is transmitted through intimate contact, not just sexual intercourse.
A person with HPV can pass the infection to someone even when they have no signs or symptoms.
If you are sexually active, you can get HPV, even if you have had sex with only one person. You can also develop symptoms years after having sex with someone who has the infections.
Therefore, it is hard to know when you first got it.
In most cases, HPV goes away on its own within 2 years without causing any health problems. However, when it does not go away, it can cause health problems like genital warts and abnormal changes in the cells that could turn into cancer (e.g. cervical cancer).
HPV infection has been linked to a number of cancers including cervical cancer. Any woman that has HPV infection could develop cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer can be successfully treated if diagnosed early.
Treatment depends on the depends on the gravity of the abnormality of the cells. Frequently these can be removed easily and efficiently by means of laser treatment or surgery.
When the abnormal cells have transformed into a tumor, treatment is longer, more complicated and may compromise fertility.
Colposcopy and HPV test together provide early diagnosis of abnormality in the cells.
Сolposcopy is a fast, painless and highly specialised examination which indicates immediately if a cancer is present or if there is a cellular alteration which precedes cancer.
It is a simple procedure that is used to look at the cells of the cervix. It is often done if cervical screening finds abnormal cells in your cervix. A colposcopy can confirm whether cells in your cervix are abnormal and determine whether you need treatment to remove them.
Meanwhile, the HPV DNA TEST is used to test for high-risk HPV types that are most likely to cause cervical cancer. This test is done by scraping cells from the cervix to look for pieces of HPV DNA in cervical cells.
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