Why HPV is Said to be More Dangerous and Threatening Than Sars?

Human papillomavirus, more commonly known as HPV, is one of the most common sexually transmitted disease or a viral infection that can cause warts. Papillomaviruses are a diverse group of DNA-based viruses that pass on through genital contact (such as vaginal and anal sex) or they may spread through skin-to-skin sexual contact. Generally, these are common viruses that infect the skin and mucous membranes of humans and a variety of animals. Currently, there is no cure for HPV.

HPV Particles (red and green)

HPV particles are about 55nm in diameter. They are small viruses that contain 8 genes packed inside a protein coat. Two HPV genes which are called E6 and E7 are responsible for the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells.

According to an academic research of The Internet Journal of Oncology published in 2004, all HPV viruses share a similar genomic organization, which consists of approximately 8,000 base pairs in a double DNA strand. All the open reading frames (ORFs) that could encode proteins for these viruses are located on the one viral strand that is transcribed. The HPV genome has three distinct regions. The “early” region encodes the viral proteins involved in viral DNA replication, transcriptional regulation, and cellular transformation (E oncogenes). The “late” region encodes the viral capsid proteins (L1 and L2 genes). The third region, called the long control region, or also called the upstream regulatory region, does not contain any ORFs but contains cis-regulatory elements.

HPV Genome

HPV causes warty lesions known as condyloma acuminata or venereal warts, which are primarily found on the skin or mucus membrane of both males and females. Some of these lesions can only be seen if 5% acetic acid (usually in the form of common white vinegar) is applied to the infected surface.

What are Types of HPV and their Associated Diseases?

There are more than 100 different strains of HPV that affect different parts of the body. Some strains of HPV cause warts on the feet, hands, and other parts of the body, while other strains are sexually transmitted and cause warts that affect skin in the genital area — the vulva, vagina, cervix, rectum, anus, penis, or scrotum. Though most are harmless and do not cause health problem, approximately 30 exist in the genital area and can cause condyloma acuminate (genital warts) and these 30 types may also put you at risk for cancer. These 30 strains can be classified either as “high” or “low” risk strains. Low risk strains can cause genital warts while high risk strains can lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, and anus in women while in men, it can lead to cancers of the anus and penis.

Generally, there are approximately 13 high-risk strains of HPV. Of these, two (type 16 & 18) are said to cause about 70% of cervical cancers. The high risk strains are almost always caused cancer of the cervix. Low risk strains may sometimes cause changes in a Pap smear, but they do not progress to cancer like the high risk strains. Of the low risk strains, type 6 and 11 are most likely to cause about 90% of genital warts. Other strains include type 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68 and 69 (”High-risk” sexually transmitted HPVs) are mostly associated with the high possibility of getting cervical cancer besides leading to the development of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN), Penile Intraepithelial Neoplasia (PIN), Vulvar Intraepithelial Neoplasia (VIN), and/ or Anal Intraepithelial Neoplasia (AIN).

What are the Symptoms of HPV?

A majority of HPV infections show no signs or symptoms and thus people who are infected are always unaware that the HPV virus is transmitted to their sex partner (s). The symptoms usually take weeks, months and even years to appear. Others may have no symptoms at all. Therefore, the HPV infection is often extremely difficult or impossible to figure out who infected whom.

Symptoms of HPV usually appear in the form of wart-like growths or abnormal cell growths (dysplasia) that typically appear within 3 weeks to 6 months after sexual contact with an HPV infected person. The growths are typically moist, soft, red or pink swellings and are neither painful nor itchy. They can be single or multiple growths or bumps, raised or flat, small or large but sometimes they form a cauliflower-like shape within the infected areas.
In some cases, these cauliflower-like shape growths can take years to appear. These genital warts may also be flat and are normally found on the inside and the outside of the vagina, particularly in a women’s cervix which can be precancerous and cancerous conditions of the cervix. The warts may also be seen in or around the urethra, anus and sometimes the mouth, lips, tongue and throat. In men, they usually appear on the penis, but they can also found on the scrotum or around the anus. Only in some rarely cases, growths are found in the mouth or the throat. If allow to grow, these warts can block the openings of the vagina, urethra, anus, interfering with urination, and they can cause sores, and bleeding.

Some people recover from HPV infections without experiencing any health problems. Their symptoms of genital HPV infections disappear themselves within 6 months. This is because the infections may have caused their bodies to develop immunity as a natural protection against different types of HPV. In other words, when the immune system is strong, the warts that are inside the body (either the vagina or anus) are prevented from forming, but the virus is still present in the body.

How many People are infected with HPV?

According to the American Social Health Association, they estimated that 20 to 40 million of Americans, at any given time are infected by HPV. It is estimated that 5.5 million will contact it through sexual contact each year, making HPV the most common STD in the world. Approximately 60% of sexually active women may at high risk of HPV infection. Male may also be infected but its statistics are unclear as it is harder to test for HPV in males than females. Another research conducted by Dr. Robert Burk at Albert Einstein College of Medicine concluded that one in five American adults have a genital HPV infection.

HPV types 16 and 18 are found to cause over 90% of cervical cancer in women worldwide with 450,000 new cases and 200,000 deaths each year. HPV is the culprit in cervical cancer that kills approximately 3,700 American women each year. It is estimated that more than 25 million women and 6 million men in the United States are infected with HPV each year. That means that one out of every four females in the United States may have HPV.

How Can You Get HPV?

HPV is passed on by skin to skin genital contact or rubbing through vaginal, anal and oral sex with a partner who already has HPV. As HPV is spread through close genital contact, condoms sometimes provide unsecure protection against viral infection. Furthermore, area not shielded by a condom can expose you to HPV virus. The transmission can also occur from sores, ulcers or infected skin that appears normal.
HPV can be contracted by one person, but it takes months or years later to transmit to a new partner as it usually causes absolutely no symptoms. HPV is said to transmit with or without the warts visible. HPV infections are often unseen, unobserved and unexpected to transmit by sex partners who are not aware that they are infected. A pregnant mother who is infected with HPV virus can also transmit the virus to her infant during vaginal childbirth. This is because the pregnant mother might experience a rapid growth of genital warts during pregnancy due to the change in her hormone levels. Therefore, this condition must be monitored carefully particularly during delivery to avoid transmission of virus to her infant.

When the immune system is weakened by diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, an organ transplant, or other serious health conditions, HPV infections through skin and sexual contact may cause you experiencing an increase in the size and number of warts within the infected areas, and you might have a possibility to experience more frequent recurrences of warts or growths. An immune disorder such as HIV/AIDS is also prone to HPV infection.
As HPV is a protein coated by a hard shell, its survival is extremely strong and thus it can penetrate easily into the skin pores of humans and animals. At room temperature, even in a condition of dehydration for one day, its infection can reach as high as 100%. After 3 to 7 days, it still has an infection effect towards living things either through close genital contact or any other non-living things which are contaminated with HPV viruses. There have been numerous reports of HPV infections from tanning beds, shared clothing, bed sheets and so forth. Therefore, personal hygiene includes washing hands regularly for example, is important to protect yourself from getting HPV viruses.

The HPV can also be infected by touching doors, elevator’s button, toilet bowl or anything that can be easily accessed by the public. You are advised to put on a layer of tissue paper, toilet roll or cloth before sitting on the toilet bowl. If you accidentally touch on any public facility’s objects, make sure you wash your hands immediately to avoid the risk of getting HPV virus. If you stay overnight in a hostel, hotel or any other public places, do not use their prepared towels, blankets, clothing as they may have contaminated with HPV virus. You and I may get it without knowing it since there might not be any signs to show that you and I have HPV even if years have passed and the virus makes use of the objects and humans as a medium to pass on to another person. Therefore, you should always take such safety steps to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of HPV.

Who can get HPV?

There is by far no test that can guarantee that anyone particularly men are free from the infection of HPV. HPV infection is extremely common and can anytime be infected by both male and female. In short, HPV virus is so common that it can be considered normal to have it.

People who have sex at an early age or those who have many sex partners are more likely to get HPV. Either a sex partner is engaged with many partners or he always exchanges the sex partners with others is at high risk of infected by HPV.
How can you lower the chances of getting HPV?

You should beware of choosing your partner. Try to choose a partner who has no sex partners. The fewer sex partners your partner has had, the lower the chances you are more likely to have HPV. You can choose not to have sex (abstinence) at an early age. If you have sex, then you should limit the number of partners as few as possible. The best way to prevent HPV is to abstain from any type of sexual relationships, though these may seem odd and not realistic for most of the adults these days. One should find other ways to express intimacy by avoiding contact with any warts.

Never rely upon condom as it is not a secure way to protect you from getting HPV virus. This means that wearing a condom provides limited protection against HPV virus. Since HPV show no visible symptoms, your partner who wears a condom may still have a high possibility of getting HPV. In fact, using condoms is not 100% safe as areas of genital warts or other infected areas that are not covered by a condom can still transmit the virus. Nevertheless, condoms are still considered as a crucial step to minimize risk for people who are sexually active. Remember though, condoms or dental dams which are used for sexual behaviors that include vaginal, anal or oral activities are not a guarantee to reduce the risk of contracting HPV. Hence, think carefully while using these products so as not to put you at risk for HPV.

All females should get an annual Pap smear test to detect abnormal cervical cell changes caused by HPV in the cervix that might lead to cancer. Cervix cancer is always associated with high risk strains of HPV, although in some cases the HPV infection does not develop cancer. Pap smear test can detect the cell changes early, so that the cervix can be treated before the cells turn into malignant cancerous cells. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved an HPV test that can identify 13 of the high-risk types of HPVs associated with the development of cervical cancer. It is rare to die from cervical cancer if the disease is caught early. A vaccine can also protect against several types of HPV, these may include those that can cause cancer. However, there is currently no test to determine if a man has HPV.

How to Cope with HPV?

Being diagnosed with HPV does not mean that you have to stop the sexual activity forever. It is sometimes vital to communicate with your sex partner(s) that you have HPV, or any other type of STI, so that necessary steps can be taken to minimize the risk of recurrences and transmitting the virus to others. Though telling your partner that you have HPV can be a difficult and challenging experience for your sex partner(s) to accept as it is completely normal to feel angry, guilty, depressed and frustrated about having HPV or STI. Nevertheless, take care of your health by practicing safer sex is a vital step to lower you and your partner(s)’s chances of getting HPV.

Men and women should stop having sexual contact as soon as they know or think they have genital warts and they should seek treatment immediately. By doing so, the HPV transmission can be controlled as HPV stays in your body can cause warts to appear in the infected areas, particularly when your immune system is suppressed.
Once you are diagnosed of being infected by HPV, you should continue to have regular check-ups. Though you may have been recently diagnosed and treated, you will need to have more frequent exams to ensure that the genital warts have been eliminated thoroughly. Even for a successful treatment, men and women still have to continue to examine their genitals regularly to check for warts or any new warts or growths that show no appearance within the infected areas. As for women, they should receive annual Pap smear tests to detect any cervical cell growths or changes.

If you take precautionary steps, you are less likely to experience the recurrences of genital warts. This mean that you can maintain a strong immune system by doing exercise regularly and appropriately, eating right and appropriate amounts of nutritional foods, getting enough rest and sleep, managing your stress as much as possible, promoting good body hygiene besides avoiding alcoholic drinks, tobacco or any other illegal drugs and self-injections. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle will reduce the chances of recurrences of warts or growths, and in time, in most cases the healthy lifestyle help stop having any recurrences of warts.

In accordance with the recent medical research, inadequate intake of vitamins, trace elements and nutrition can lead to human body more vulnerable and easily infected by diseases. Therefore, you should give more priority to your physical and mental health. The intake of Lactoferrin (LF), Colostrum milk, green tea Colostrum, and live good bacteria in yogurt provide you with antibodies and disease destroying leukocytes, which help you successfully to fight off diseases; grape seed, vitamin E and C has a property of anti-oxidized substance to help delay aging; Calcium, vitamin B Complex, Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, Polysaccharide can provide you with valuable weapons against cancer, prevent blood clots, but scientists have discovered that they can also help detoxify the blood and maintain energy levels.