About the HPV virus

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is currently the most common sexually transmitted disease. The HPV virus, while proliferating in human epithelial cells, causes the development of benign or malign skin growths.

Benign skin growths include the common or flat warts that can appear anywhere on the body, and the genital warts (or in other words, condylomas) that appear on the genital organs, or the anus. These are caused by types of HPV that have a low risk of cancer.

The types of HPV that have a high risk of cancer can lead to the development of epithelial cancer, out of which the most well-known is cervical cancer, which in 99% of the cases is due to human papilloma virus infection. Additionally, most epithelial cancers of the female and male genital organs (vulva, vagina, penis), the anus and the oral cavity also originate from HPV. These tumors typically develop slowly, and in many cases, at an early stage, cancer preceding conditions can be observed on the affected areas. Such conditions can be detected, for instance, by gynecological cytology (cell-smear based cervical cancer screening), and thus intervening at an early stage can mean a full recovery for the patient.

The HPV virus infection can initially be asymptomatic, when no malformation can be seen on the affected area, and we do not experience any symptoms. The presence of the infection then can be verified by HPV virus detecting tests. Asymptomatic patients can infect their sexual partners.
Nevertheless, HPV infection does not always lead to the development of a disease, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the virus empties on its own after a few months. Therefore, it is important to know that HPV infection in itself is not the same as HPV-related diseases!

Several specialties can help in treating diseases caused by HPV: ordinary warts are removed by dermatologists, genital warts by venereologists, anal warts by proctologists (anal surgeons), while epithelial cancers - depending on where the tumor is located - are treated by gynecologists, urologists, proctologists, otolaryngologists or odontologists.