Disclaimer: I am not medically trained. I am not a researcher. I am not an expert. I am just a polyamorous female who has done her homework and is willing to pass along stuff.
What is HPV?
HPV, the Human Papillomavirus, accounts for approximately 1/3 of all sexually transmitted diseases... making it the most common STD on the planet. It's estimated that 20 million people in the US are infected with a genitally transmitted strain of this virus at any one time. About 6.2 million new infections of HPV occur every year. At any time, about 20-30% of the population has an ACTIVE HPV infection, and about 80% of all sexually active people will be infected with at least one strain at some point in their lives.
And yet relatively few people know that this virus exists, or what it's responsible for. This is why I've decided that HPV is deserving of a special place on my website.
By highlighting HPV, I am in no way discounting the seriousness of other STDs that out there - including HIV, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Hepatitis, Herpes, etc. All of these other infections fall into at least one of these categories: highly treatable, fairly preventable, testable, or well known. There are plenty of other resources out there for these, and I address general STD concerns and Polyamory elsewhere on this site.
I am choosing to help bring awareness to HPV because it's a misunderstood virus (and sometimes unheard of) that has some potentially serious consequences. It also has some unique characteristics that make it of special concern for people in non-monogamous (ie. polyamorous) relationships.
What is HPV?
The human papilloma virus is also known as the "wart" virus. There are over 100 strains of HPV known. HPV is responsible for the warts you get on your hands and feet, as well as what is commonly known as "genital warts". About 30 of the strains can be sexually transmitted. Some of the strains produce no symptoms what so ever, some produce what is commonly known as genital warts. If anything, these strains are a nasty looking nuisance, but they will not kill you.
However, there are 13 or so strains (referred to as "high risk") that have been found to be present in roughly 95-99% of ALL cases of cervical cancer - which accounts for close to 3500 deaths a year in women in the US. (This is more deaths a year in women than HIV/AIDs causes, by the way.)
HPV is the reason behind women getting PAP smears regularly, and PAPs are why the death rate is so low with HPV. Early detection of pre-cancerous cells through PAP smears has brought a dramatic reduction in cervical cancer. And cervical cancer is highly treatable if caught early. Most cervical cancers are diagnosed in women who have not had a PAP smear in the prior 5 years - so just getting a PAP smear regularly reduces your chances significantly. However, cervical cancer alone is not enough to merit HPV getting this amount of webspace on my site. After all, 3500 deaths a year compared to 6.2 million HPV infections is pretty darn good odds of survival.
It's the huge number of cases of cervical dysplasia (precancerous cell changes) that are diagnosed each year that are caused by HPV infections that raises my eyebrow. It's not discussed often when talking about HPV and cervical cancer - but just what does it mean to get an abnormal PAP smear that detects potential cancer risk early?
I've seen numbers that vary from 250,000 - 2,000,000 abnormal PAP smears diagnosed each year. As you can see, the percentage of women who die from HPV is very very small, but the number of women who need rather nasty treatment for it is pretty high. Ask any women who's been through treatment for cervical dysplasia - it's not fun. It can involve the removal of parts of the cervix and repeat testing for several years. The treatments are generally a minor (but potentially scary) surgical treatment, but can leave a women with complications for being able to carry a baby to full term if she intends to have children in the fture. A lot of anxiety goes along with this and it's not over quickly - it's not like popping a pill to cure a bacterial STD infection, it's a status and concern that stays with you for years. And I've been shocked by the number of women I've talked to who have been treated for dysplasia and have never heard of HPV.
There are a lot of resources out there that will describe HPV in further detail, including it's lifecycle, treatments options and virology information... I have several of them linked in my references. I encourage you to educate yourself. The rest of the pages of my HPV information will focus strictly around it's uniqueness to people in non-monogamous relationships.
