HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS HPV Fabiola Abreu Alejandra Alvarez

HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS (HPV) Fabiola Abreu, Alejandra Alvarez, Jorden Arriagada

History • It was discovered in 1956 by a group of scientists. • In 1984, Harald zur Hausen discovered, cloned, and attributed cervical cancer to HPV 16 and 18.

What is it? • HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections STIs in Canada and worldwide. HPV is commonly known for anal and genital cancer, and anon genital warts. It can also cause damage and infest other areas such as, hands and feet and it is possible to have more than one HPV infection in a one person.

How is it transmitted • You can get this disease by Oral, vaginal or anal sex with someone carrying th 1 e virus. The infection is more frequent during vaginal or anal sex. HPV can be transmitted even when the infected person has no signs or symptoms. And also sometimes. • HPV can be transmitted during birth to an infant causing genital or respiratory system infections.

Symptoms In most of the cases the body’s immune system defeats HPV before it creates warts.

Complications • Most of the cases are not serious, but some cases can deveop cancer. • In B. C. every year up to 150 women develop cervix cancer due to de HPV, and about 40 women die from it.

How to prevent it • As always, the best way to make sure you don’t get an STD like HPV is to avoid any sexual contact with another person; that includes vaginal, oral, and anal sex, and any other genital contact. – Abstinence – Safe sex – Use of condoms – HPV vaccine – Male circumcision

treatment • The HPV virus cannot be cured once infected but there are treatments for the symptoms that HPV provides. • The treatment depends on the type of HPV.

Tests for the disease • Currently, there is no HPV test recommended for men. The only approved HPV tests on the market are for screening women for cervical cancer. They are not useful for screening for HPV - related cancers or genital warts in men.

The Disease in the future • There are two vaccines that are currently approved by the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) that are for preventing HPV. And to this day more vaccines are trying to be provided to those in need and a boost in the dose is currently being trialed. • Doctors and scientists are looking into multiple types of HPV for more signs of cancer, and mutations of the virus to prevent cancer

References • http: //www. who. int/en/ • https: //www. sexandu. ca/stis/hpv/ • http: //www. pamf. org/teen/sex/std/hpv. htm • https: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 4388981/