Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Most people with HPV never develop symptoms or health problems. In 9 out of 10 cases, the infection goes away within two years. But occasionally, HPV infections will last longer and can cause certain cancers and other diseases, such as genital warts (usually appear as a small bump or groups of bumps in the genital area. They can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a cauliflower).

HPV cancers usually do not have symptoms until they are quite advanced, very serious and hard to treat. Cancer often takes years, even decades, to develop after a person gets HPV.  There is no way to know which people who have HPV will develop cancer or other health problems. People with weak immune systems (including individuals with HIV/AIDS) may be less able to fight off HPV and more likely to develop health problems from it.

HPV is transmitted through intimate skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. A person can get HPV even if their partner doesn’t have any signs or symptoms of HPV infection. Most people do not realize they are infected. They also don’t know that they may be passing HPV to their sex partner(s). You can develop symptoms years after being infected, making it hard to know when you first became infected. It is possible for someone to get more than one type of HPV.

Although uncommon, sometimes a pregnant woman with HPV can pass the virus to her baby during delivery. The child might develop recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), a rare but dangerous condition where warts caused by HPV grow inside the throat.

There have not been any documented cases of people getting HPV from environmental surfaces, such as toilet seats. However, someone could be exposed to HPV from objects shared during sexual activity, if the object has been used by an infected person.

Most people with HPV do not know they are infected and never develop symptoms or health problems from it. Some people find out they have HPV when they get genital warts. A healthcare provider can usually diagnose warts by looking at the genital area. Women may be diagnosed with HPV when they get an abnormal Pap test result (during cervical cancer screening).

While there is screening for cervical cancer, there is no routine screening for the other 20,000 cancers caused by HPV infections each year in the U.S. Often these cancers, such as cancers of the back of the throat (oropharyngeal) and cancers of the anus/rectum, are not detected until later stages when they are difficult to treat.

There is no specific treatment for HPV infection. Medical management depends on treatment of the specific clinical signs of the infection (such as genital warts or abnormal Pap smear).