HPV Virus in Women

HPV virus symptoms in women aren’t always present. The virus that causes cervical cancer HPV is one that can stay with you for life. This is a virus that is never truly dormant. In a healthy person your immune system can do a very good job of fighting it off and keeping the virus at bay. Once the infection takes hold, it can cause cells in your cervix to change. This change can be detected by having a pap smear.

Here is the problem with the HPV virus in women, the HPV strains that are known to cause genital warts and cancer are capable of replicating too quickly for the immune system to keep up with.

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO KNOW

You need to know as much as you can. This virus is dependent on its host to grow and spread. Before there are abnormalities on a routine pap smear it is clear that you need to arm yourself with a no nonsense approach to taking care of your sexual health.

Because not everyone infected with HPV will develop symptoms, this is a virus that comes in under the radar. Most women with the low-risk types of genital HPV never know they harbor the virus. If symptoms do occur they include genital warts, and precancerous changes, and in some cases cancer.

Genital warts can grow inside and around the outside of the vagina, on the vulva (the opening around the vagina), the cervix, groin, and in or around the anus. Genital warts can grow in the mouth or throat of a person who has had oral sex with an infected person.

You need to be aware of all possibilities, because the first clue sometimes is an abnormal pap test. If this occurs there is a DNA test that detects many of the high-risk types of HPV, to help screen for cervical cancer. Women can have HPV with a normal pap test; changes on the cervix may not appear right away.

MAKING WAVES

Women have to be the ones to make all the right moves. Managing the HPV virus is more complicated then avoiding it. The gap between the perception of this virus and the processes that unfold once infected is game changing.

Everything will hinge on making the best choices. Women may bear the brunt of this virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) have approved the HPV test that can identify 13 of the high-risk types of HPVs associated with the development of cervical cancer.

Making waves will be the women’s job, because there is currently no test to determine if a man is infected with the virus. HPV virus is transmitted through sexual, skin-to-skin contact with an infected person; penetration is not needed to pass along the virus. Condoms only cover so much, and the areas left exposed do often come in contact with the vagina and surrounding areas.

SOLUTIONS REMAIN ELUSIVE

The vaccine is new, and not everyone has access to it. The jury still is out on how long it is effective, and the overall track record. It is expensive and women will be the one on the receiving end of the vaccination. The vaccine for boys hasn’t become a best seller.

What this comes down to; managing risk will be up to the fairer sex. It will mean that all precautious will still leave some uncertainty. However, the decision to proceed with caution, and explore some alternative health enhancing means to help you sleep tight is what may give you the edge.

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