HPV stands for human papillomavirus. HPV is a group of more than 200 related viruses. About 40 kinds can infect your genital area — your vulva, vagina, cervix, rectum or anus — as well as your mouth and throat. These kinds of HPV are spread during sexual contact. (Other types of HPV cause common warts like hand warts and plantar warts on the feet — but these aren’t sexually transmitted.)

Genital HPV infections are very, very common. In fact, most people who have sex get the HPV at some point in their lives. Most people with HPV have no symptoms and feel totally fine, so they usually don’t even know they’re infected.

Sexually transmitted HPV types fall into two groups, low risk and high risk. Low-risk HPVs mostly cause no disease. However, a few low-risk HPV types can cause warts on or around the genitals, anus, mouth, or throat. High-risk HPVs can cause several types of cancer. There are about 14 high-risk HPV types. Two of these, HPV16 and HPV18, are responsible for most HPV-related cancers.

You can get HPV by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the virus. It is most commonly spread during vaginal or anal sex. It also spreads through close skin-to-skin touching during sex. 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 also can develop symptoms years after having sex with someone who has the infection. This makes it hard to know when you first got it.

Testing for HPV occurs as part of cervical cancer screening. If you test positive, you may need further tests and/or treatment to monitor you more closely and treat abnormal cells. This could include:
Colposcopy — a procedure to look more closely at the cervix to see if there are precancerous cells
LEEP or Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure — a treatment to remove precancerous cells from the cervix with an electrical current.

If you haven’t been vaccinated, you should consider the HPV vaccine which goes by the name Gardasil 9. It can protect against strains of the virus that you have not come in contact with. Recent studies also suggest that vaccination helps prevent against reinfection.

The HPV vaccine is given in a series of shots. For people ages 15-45, the HPV vaccine is 3 separate shots. The second shot is given 2 months after the first, and the third shot is given 4 months after the second shot. So, in all, it takes about 6 months to get all 3 shots. Please reach out with questions.