HPV, known as the human papillomavirus is said to be the most common virus that affects humans and is a sexually transmitted disease. However, there a hundred types of HPV most of which do not harm you in any way but only a few affect you causing serious health conditions. HPV infections are a common occurrence in infants and young adults too. You may either be suffering from a low risk of HPV or a high risk of HPV. in case of a low risk HPV, you are prone to getting genital warts and in case of a high risk, there are greater chances of it leading to cervical cancer in women and men are at a greater risk of getting cancer of the anus or penis. Genital warts are found in both men and women that appear in their genital areas and the area surrounding the anus. They are very contagious and people between the age group of 17 to 33 years are most likely to get it. They differ greatly in their appearance and can be small or large and are small bumps that are raised or flat and may be large. Symptoms may not always occur in case of a genital wart; however, you may feel a great deal of irritation because of itchiness or burning sensation. You may bleed after a sexual intercourse or experience an unusual white discharge if the genital warts are inside your vagina.
It is important to know that an HPV infection will not necessarily lead to development of genital warts. An HPV infection can be diagnosed with the help of a pap test that indicate any changes that appears in the cervix as this could primarily be a symptom of cancer. However, this is not a full proof evidence for diagnosis of HPV but only provides a lead to the doctor to carry out further tests to confirm the same. Genital warts can be diagnosed by physical examination and in some cases a biopsy may be performed that involves taking a sample of the tissue for further testing and diagnosis. Genital warts may pose a problem during pregnancy and there is a chance that they grow larger because of the tremendous amount of hormonal changes that a woman undergoes during pregnancy. Also, there is no guarantee that the virus will go away completely and there is a possibility that the genital warts appear again despite being treated and cured especially if you have a weakened immune system.
Submitted by M T on March 8, 2010 at 11:38