It causes dangerous tumors. Avoiding infection with this virus is not difficult

HPV is a pathogen that is relatively easy to get infected. The consequences can be dire, leading to the development of not only cervical cancer, but also head and neck cancers and colon cancer. HPV is not only a threat to women. You can have the vaccine to protect yourself from infection. However, this is not the only way.

1. HPV infection is usually asymptomatic. In the case of a symptomatic infection, the patient develops warts
2. Vaccination against HPV is most effective in childhood. People who have not been vaccinated as children should use other measures to protect themselves from the virus
3. Protection against HPV primarily includes a healthy and responsible lifestyle. Screening tests and regular visits to the dentist also play an important role
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HPV is common. They infect and are infected both by women and men.

HPV infection occurs sexually, most often in the initial period after the onset of sexual activity. It can also be infected when there is no penetration. During their lifetime, 50-80 percent. sexually active men and women have been or will be infected with HPV. There are approximately 150 pathogenic types of this virus, some of which are oncogenic (leading to the development of cancer).

HPV infection affects not only the intimate areas, but also the mucous membranes elsewhere in the body, such as in the mouth. In the oral cavity, the virus causes head and neck cancers, such as the larynx. It can also cause cancer of the colon, cervix, endometrium and vulva.

Usually, HPV infection is asymptomatic and transient. Sometimes, however, it becomes chronic, and then cancer may develop. The disease develops approximately 10-20 years after exposure to the virus.

How to protect yourself from HPV?

Vaccinations provide the best protection. However, they are recommended for young people (of both sexes!), Preferably before sexual intercourse begins. Vaccines can be given to children as early as 9 years of age, although experts say it is best done between 11 and 13 years of age. However, you can also have the HPV vaccine after this period.

The rest of the article is available under the video.

Why is vaccination recommended for young people? Because the vaccine is most effective in a group of people even before sexual initiation, when it can be assumed with a high degree of certainty that they have not been infected with HPV. Experts estimate, however, that in the group of 27-45 years old, vaccination should be considered by the doctor and the patient.

– We have at our disposal a huge achievement of civilization in the form of vaccines. We can make Poles stop suffering from cancers that have a bad prognosis, are very difficult to treat, and in advanced stages cause enormous suffering – she emphasized during the debate “Free HPV vaccinations – the last chance for implementation?” head of the Oncology Clinic at the Institute of Polish Mother’s Health Center, dr hab. Ewa Kalinka.

Vaccination against HPV does not release women from the necessity of pap smear tests!

Availability of the HPV vaccine

Currently, one HPV vaccine is partially (half) reimbursed in Poland.

However, the interest in vaccinations after the introduction of this partial reimbursement is not very high, which is not surprising for the national consultant in the field of paediatrics, prof. Teresa Jackowska.

– European studies show that reimbursement is not the solution, even if it would be much higher than today. A great deal of education is needed for HPV vaccination coverage to match that of other vaccinations, the doctor assessed during the above-mentioned debate.

Prof. Jackowska is in favor of including HPV vaccinations in the calendar of compulsory vaccinations – in her opinion, only then will we achieve high vaccination coverage in Poland. At present, vaccination against HPV is only recommended.

The vaccination gap to some extent is filled to some extent by many local governments through their health policy programs – unfortunately not all of them. However, it is worth checking whether the local government in which we live has an offer of free HPV vaccinations for its residents.

According to Dr. Kalinka, thanks to vaccinations, tens of thousands. patients could avoid developing HPV-dependent neoplasms.

– Adults who have come into contact with HPV in the course of their lives will still develop cancer (which develops from HPV infection – editor’s note). The number of HPV-dependent neoplasms increases year by year. And what we can do today is to protect our children – she added.

There is evidence of this. Australia has been conducting a universal HPV vaccination program since the first decade of the 2007st century (since 2013 – for girls, from 2028 – for boys). It recently declared that in 100 it may become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem – it is one of the four most common cancers in the world, and almost 2017% develops as a result of HPV infection. Australia already has one of the lowest cancer rates in the world. It achieved this thanks to widespread vaccination against HPV and the introduction (in 25) of screening for HPV every five years in the group of women 69-XNUMX years of age.

Meanwhile, in Poland, as noted by the head of the Oncology Clinic at the Institute of Polish Mother’s Health Center in Łódź, Dr. Ewa Kalinka, the incidence of cervical cancer is not decreasing.

– Every week we see a woman who has to undergo an operation for cervical cancer or does not qualify for this operation because of the stage of the disease. But HPV is also cancer of the head, neck and penis … – emphasized Dr. Kalinka.

If not vaccination, how to protect yourself?

People who cannot get the vaccine can also do a lot to protect themselves from HPV. Here is a list of the ways:

1. using condoms (also during oral sex);
2. one sexual partner and mutual fidelity;
3. circumcision in men;
4. not smoking;
5. no HIV infection;
6. participate in common cancer screening programs as recommended for your age group or as directed by your doctor;
7. taking care of annual preventive visits to your doctor;
8. women should visit their gynecologist every year, even if they do not feel any discomfort;
9. every year, you should visit the dentist also if you do not have any problems in the mouth and ask him to carefully examine the oral mucosa;
10. in case of persistent cough, hoarseness, do not delay the visit to the doctor;
11. attention to hygiene. 

What is HPV?

HPV virus (Human Papillomavirus) is the human papillomavirus. There are 150 types that are pathogenic for humans. More than 40 of them are considered to be associated with genital infections, and twelve (HPV-16, -18, -31, -33, -39, -45, -51, -52, -56, -58, -59 and -66) are classified as viruses whose infection can lead to the development of various cancers. Other types of HPV are associated with benign lesions, such as genital warts.

In almost all women, the virus is eliminated within 2 years, but in 10% of women. of them develop a chronic infection which is a prerequisite for the development of cervical cancer.

Symptoms of HPV infection

1. warts on the feet, normal warts, flat warts, youthful warts of the larynx;
2. warts around the genitals and anus (the so-called genital warts);
3. precancerous lesions of the female genital organs (cervix, vulva and vagina);
4. cervical cancer.

Among 1 million women infected with the highly oncogenic HPV type (types: 16 and 18), in 8 thousand cancer develops and 1600 develop invasive cancer.

Katarzyna Walterska, as above, Zdrowie.pap.pl

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