A carrier of HPV may not be aware that he is infected. Symptoms do not appear immediately and only in the form of papillomas of different localization:
- Vulgar. They appear in the form of a small hard lump with a diameter of about 1 cm, most often on the hands.
- Filiform. Small seals in the form of yellow cones, often changing and growing.
- Plantar warts. It is often confused with blisters.
- Flat. Itching before the manifestation, similar to the manifestation of an allergy. Then they become rounded, light.
- Pointed nipples. They are located in intimate places, on the mucous membrane.
Accompanying signs may appear in women with formations on the genitals:
- heat;
- itching;
- breaking the cycle;
- pain, blood in places of neoplasms.
In men, HPV is rarely manifested in the form of genital warts, they act as carriers of the disease.
Blood test for papillomavirus type 18 (16)
A blood test for human papillomavirus in developed countries is used for mass detection of carriers and sick people. The diagnostic reliability of cytology is up to 95%. DNA test in the USA is done for the following indications:
- In women over 30 years old, as a screening test;
- Identify questionable research results;
- In the absence of a screening program;
- For control after removal of cervical cancer.
List of diagnostic procedures for the detection of papillomavirus:
- Cytological examination in combination with the Digene test enables the determination of a clinically significant concentration of the virus in the blood;
- Urological, gynecological examination - to detect genital warts, genital warts;
- Histological examination of a piece of tissue taken after a gynecological or urological examination.
The main task of the diagnosis of papillomavirus is the detection of precancerous conditions. Colposcopy and cytology are the most common and affordable ways to diagnose the disease.
Transfer Methods
Among the mechanisms under the influence of which you can become infected are:
- contact;
- vertical (from mother to child during childbirth).
The implementation of the contact mechanism is done through sexual and contact-domestic means. Therefore, HPV can be transmitted through:
- handshake and kiss;
- using other people's hygiene products, which include razor, cloth, soap, towel and cosmetics;
- wearing clothes belonging to an infected person;
- visiting public baths, saunas and swimming pools.
Oncogenic types of viruses are sexually transmitted. The risk of infection increases many times in those persons who are promiscuous in their partners. The more often they are changed, the greater the probability of infection, and even using condoms you cannot be sure of your safety.
You can also get infected through homosexual relationships, because they are characterized by injury to the epithelium and mucous membrane. A condom also does not help in this case. The presence of warts on the body of a sexual partner also signals the possibility of acquiring HPV through microtrauma on the body.
Pregnant women who are carriers of HPV should be aware of the possibility of infection of the child during its passage through the birth canal.
The infection is carried out only in the presence of characteristic growths in the area of the genitals and cervix. At the same time, papilloma virus infection in a child manifests itself in the form of growths in the larynx, which are of particular danger. It will be difficult for the baby to breathe and eat, maybe even suffocate.
To begin with, it is worth saying that papilloma is transmitted through the epidermis and saliva. At the same time, the infection may not be felt for some time and manifest itself in the formation of genital warts and papillomas only with a decrease in immunity. If we talk about how the papilloma virus is transmitted, then the probability of infection is significantly increased if there are damages, scratches and scratches on the skin.
Attention! Many people are interested in whether papilloma is inherited. The answer is no. When one of the family members is infected, the papillomavirus is transmitted at home or from mother to baby during childbirth.
There is an opinion that the human papilloma virus is most often transmitted through sexual contact. This is true, but there are other routes of infection. The incubation period for the human papillomavirus can be up to 10 years. Papillomas on the body can be caused by a simple touch or saliva of another person.
There are more than a hundred strains of HPV, most of which are transmitted through various types of close contact.
sexually
HPV is transmitted sexually. This reason is considered the most common and insidious, because often girls and boys are not aware of the presence of infection in the blood. Popular methods of protection do not provide 100% protection against viruses, especially if it is not a barrier method.
A condom gives a person little protection against HPV. It all depends on the type of infection and the person's immune system.
HPV can affect the skin anywhere on the body. Papilloma is often sexually transmitted.
Infection can occur even through condoms. This is due to the fact that the virus lives on surface tissues and easily colonizes the mucous membrane.
In the presence of microabrasion, the virus enters the bloodstream and begins its destructive work. As a result of the infection, genital warts or cauliflower-like neoplasms appear on the mucous tissues of the genital organs.
Often men infect their partners during intimate relationships. They have stronger immune systems and rarely show visible signs of infection. If there are many sexual relations with unknown women, they can carry the virus for some time. Papilloma virus can be transmitted from woman to man if the sexual partner has a weak immune system.
A person who is naturally immune to this virus can touch nipples, have sex with a sick person and remain healthy. There are cases when one partner was positive for HPV and the other negative, despite the fact that they have been living together for a long time.
Other routes of infection
Household infection is quite common, as is the possibility of infection during sexual intercourse.
The virus can be transmitted when swimming in contaminated water, outdoor or indoor pools. You can see unusual growths on the body some time after visiting a bath or sauna where an infected person visited.
HPV is transmitted intranatally or transplacentally. For each method there is a certain risk of infection.
Research suggests that cesarean delivery increases the likelihood of human papillomavirus infection. In natural or artificial childbirth in women, the risk of infection does not change.
The recurrent course of respiratory papillomatosis is provoked by the presence of several types of pathogens - 68, 59, 56, 52, 51, 45, 39, 35, 33, 31, 18, 16. The differences in the oncogenicity of serotypes lie in the ability of each type to determine the number of divisions within the cell.
Transmission of HPV through sexual contact
HPV is transmitted through sexual intercourse as a sexually transmitted infection. After contact of the blood of the carrier or an infected person with the blood of the donor (through erosion, cracks in the genital organs), the virion enters the bloodstream. Clinical symptoms are formed according to the serotype of the virus:
- Vulgar plantar warts provoke HPV 63, 1, 4, 2 type;
- Flat nipples - 75, 41, 28, 49. 10, 3;
- Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is observed in patients with papillomatosis due to serotype 11 or 6.
According to scientists, there are many papillomaviruses that have not yet been studied. Mankind carefully studied oncogenic representatives, which made it possible to create effective protection against cervical cancer in women.
The mechanism of papillomavirus infection at home
Human papillomavirus is a highly contagious virus and, according to statistics, 50 to 70% of the population is infected with it. However, clinical manifestations of infection are not so common, in about 1-2% of cases. A person does not even realize that he is a carrier of HPV until there is a decrease in immunity and activation of the virus. By knowing the main ways of transmission of HPV, you can protect yourself from unwanted symptoms. So, HPV - how is the disease transmitted? All possible transmission routes will be discussed below.
Papilloma: how is it transmitted and what is it?
About 100 different variants of the virus are currently known. Among them there are both harmless to humans and dangerous in terms of cancer development.
The following facts may be encouraging: the viruses that cause the formation of warts and papillomas belong to subtypes 6 and 11, which have a low carcinogenic risk. Oncogenic subtypes include strains 16 and 18, which cause cell mutation and cervical cancer.
The papillomavirus reproduces exclusively in skin and mucous membrane cells, causing them to divide uncontrollably. As a result, the person has the following clinical manifestations:
- various warts (ordinary, flat, plantar);
- genital warts;
- papillomatosis of the mouth and larynx;
- papilloma of internal organs.
The role of the virus in the development of cervical cancer in women and penile cancer in men has been proven, so it is important to know how the papillomavirus is transmitted in order to prevent infection.
Human papillomavirus: modes of transmission
It is impossible to independently detect the presence of the virus in the body if there are no characteristic growths on the skin or mucous membranes. Specialized medical tests will allow the identification of sleep pathology. The absence of symptoms does not guarantee that a person is not dangerous to others.
How is papilloma virus (HPV) transmitted? Doctors distinguish several ways.
Contact in the household
HPV is transmitted through the household. It is worth noting that rarely, but this option for getting an infection with the human papillomavirus (PVI), nevertheless, has the right to exist.
You can get infected by handling, using common household items - towels, slippers, wearing other people's clothes, especially underwear. Infection often occurs when visiting a swimming pool, fitness center.
The microscopic organism has such a high activity that HPV is transmitted through saliva, kisses.
The risk of infection increases if the skin has scratches, scrapes, microcracks and various wounds. People with characteristic manifestations of the disease - warts and papillomas - are especially contagious.
A fairly common question: Will regular hand washing reduce the risk of infection? Of course, clean skin is more protected. However, hygiene measures do not protect against infection with the papilloma virus.
Is the papillomavirus (HPV) sexually transmitted?
One sexual contact is enough for a person to become infected. HPV is transmitted through oral, vaginal and anal sex.
More often, the infection comes from a man, but the opposite situation is also possible, when a reverse HPV infection is recorded - from a woman to a man.
Predisposing factors are:
- early intimacy in youth;
- frequent change of sexual partners, because do not forget that the papilloma virus is transmitted sexually;
- the presence of genital warts on the genitals.
Papilloma is also sexually transmitted through homosexual relations, with minor injuries to the skin and mucous membrane of the anal area. This significantly increases the risk of infection, especially if one of the partners has external manifestations of the disease - anogenital warts.
Is human papillomavirus transmitted through unprotected sex? Unfortunately yes. HPV is transmitted through condoms, because warts invisible to the eye can be found in the inguinal region unprotected by the product.
Using a condom greatly reduces the risk of infection, but does not provide a complete guarantee of safety. Despite this, the use of condoms is recommended for all persons who have multiple sexual partners.
HPV is easily transmitted through oral sex. This increases the risk of developing tonsil cancer, especially if a person has been infected with oncogenic strains.
Papilloma virus: transmission from mother to child (vertical method)
Many pregnant women worry - is HPV transmitted from mother to child? Unfortunately, such a route of infection exists, and infection can occur transplacentally (in the prenatal period) and during childbirth.
If the first option is incredibly rare, then when the baby passes through the infected birth canal, the child can get the papilloma virus with a high probability.
Possible infection of the larynx, bronchi and trachea in a newborn. The virus enters the mucous membranes and stimulates growths. Papillomatosis of the larynx can lead to stenosis and suffocation of the child, especially if the vocal cords are affected. Every infection, cold leads to swelling of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, and in the presence of accompanying papillomas, it ends with difficulty inhaling and exhaling.
Papilloma virus infection (PVI) is included in the group of anthroponotic pathogens (transmission is carried out exclusively from person to person). If we are talking about how you can get infected with the papillomavirus (HPV), then mostly through sexual contact with an infected partner. In addition, the virus can remain active in dead skin cells for a certain period of time (relatively short), therefore, in certain situations, human papillomavirus infection is carried out at home. Now a little more about how to get HPV and what methods of infection there are.
Infectious papillomatosis
First of all, it is worth answering the question: "Is papilloma contagious? " Without a doubt. And the appearance of warts requires complex treatment, including not only the removal of formations, but also the administration of the necessary drugs.
Is latent HPV contagious? Another frequently asked question by patients. The answer to that will also be positive. It is worth knowing that even practicing protected sex is not a complete guarantee against infection. The virus can be found in the groin and on the surface of the genitals, and is not protected by a condom.
Human papillomavirus: a sexually transmitted infection
The main way of transmission of papilloma is sexual intercourse with an infected partner. This type of transmission is typical for most varieties of viruses with high oncogenic activity.
The risk of getting the disease is especially high in men and women who are promiscuous when choosing a sexual partner. Persons with homosexual tendencies should also be included in the risk group. Practicing anal sex is accompanied by trauma to the skin and mucous membrane, which greatly facilitates the process of introducing HPV DNA into the human body.
A person often takes growths on the skin as harmless and treats them with folk methods. This mistake can have dangerous consequences - the abnormal growth of epithelial tissue worsens the spread of the papillomavirus throughout the body, and some of its strains cause cell mutation with the appearance of various types of cancer.
More than 80% of the world's population are carriers of the human papillomavirus, regardless of age and race.
Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a very common disease from which neither children nor adults are protected. Getting infected with this infection is quite simple, because its cells are around us and retain vitality for a long time without a carrier.
In addition, it can be imperceptibly placed in the human body and will not manifest itself until a certain point. All this time, the infected object is a carrier of the disease, which is why HPV is transmitted both to people who are near it and to members of its family.
Papilloma virus - the provocateur of the development of oncology
Almost every third person has small growths on the body that at first seem harmless and harmless. When such neoplasms are found, the patient's first reaction is to tear them off or remove them using folk methods.
In fact, such procedures often cause irreparable damage to health, because improper removal of papillomas can cause active proliferation of epithelial tissues. This is what contributes to the rapid spread of HPV in the body, and in some cases even causes the mutation of skin cells with subsequent degeneration into a cancerous tumor.
To date, scientists have divided all types of papillomavirus into three categories:
- sure;
- low-oncogenic;
- highly oncogenic.
One of the characteristics of HPV is that it is not a sexually transmitted disease in the usual sense. The sexual route is only one of several ways of infection, and it is far from being the main one. That is why condoms cannot always protect against human papillomavirus.
We offer to find out what methods of virus transmission exist, how infection occurs and whether it can be avoided.
About 130 types of human papillomavirus are known to medicine. Only about 40 of them affect the genitals. For most of these 40 types, the sexual route is the main one, but studies show that it is not the only one.
HPV prevention
There are a number of preventive measures, due to which infection with the human papilloma virus is very unlikely to enter the body.
- all skin damage should be treated with antiseptics;
- use only personal hygiene products;
- rubber slippers must be used in public saunas, bathrooms and swimming pools;
- every disease must be treated in time;
- devotion to one sexual partner who can be trusted;
- use a condom for any sexual intercourse. Although this does not guarantee safety, nevertheless, through a condom, the papilloma virus enters the body of both women and men with a lower probability;
- regular exercise;
- hardening of the organism;
- adherence to sleep and diet.
Such precautions should be taken not only to avoid HPV infection, but also other sexually transmitted infections. A condom is a guarantee against infection with many diseases that cause activation of the HPV virus.
In the case of the presence of a virus in the body of a pregnant woman and its manifestations in the genital area, a complete examination and removal of such neoplasms is necessary. If there are papillomas on the genitals, a cesarean section is recommended to the woman to prevent infection of the child when passing through the birth canal.
There is a special vaccine against viruses of highly oncogenic strains, which is recommended primarily for women under the age of 26 and adolescents. Even if the HPV carrier is vaccinated, his immunity improves significantly and the virus goes into an inactive phase.
At the same time, it must be taken into account that the virus does not disappear from the body, and that, accordingly, the person remains a carrier of the infection. For safety reasons, he must use a condom during intercourse and use only personal hygiene products.
We have understood how the human papilloma virus is transmitted (women, men and children), now it remains to consider preventive measures. It should be said right away that the most effective way to avoid infection is preventive vaccination.
To date, two types of vaccines against this infection are known. It protects against the most dangerous oncogenic strains of viral infections.
However, high efficiency of such protection is observed only when vaccinated at an early age, before sexual activity or before infection with some of the HPV strains.
In order not to get infected with the human papillomavirus, you must follow a few simple rules that will help you avoid other, more serious health problems:
- be careful when choosing sexual partners - avoid casual contacts;
- follow the rules of personal hygiene - wash your hands more often, especially after visiting public places;
- strengthen immunity - if possible, avoid stress and overload;
- get vaccinated - the vaccine appeared relatively recently, in 2006.
Even after studying how the human papillomavirus is transmitted and following all the rules of prevention, it is impossible to fully protect yourself from HPV infection. If you have had contact with a sick person and you are afraid that the virus could be transmitted, you can do a blood test for PCR. This way you will get a reliable answer. But it should be noted that HPV does not require treatment if you do not have characteristic clinical manifestations.