HPV Facts

HPV Facts

STI Testing & Treatment

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, with a reported 79 million persons age 15–59 in the United States currently infected with HPV, and approximately 14 million new cases diagnosed each year. Although most HPV infections are asymptomatic, transient, and do not cause disease, persistent HPV infection can lead to cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile, and oropharyngeal cancer.

In the United States, approximately 27,000 HPV-attributable cancers occur each year.

HPV can cause the following cancers

  • Cervical cancer
  • A type of head and neck cancer that can infect the back of the throat
  • Anal cancer
  • Vaginal and vulvar cancer
  • Penile cancer
People can pass HPV to one another through intimate contact, vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Condoms can help prevent the spread of HPV but since HPV can infect areas of the body that are not covered by a condom, HPV can still be transmitted.

Even if a person who is infected with HPV shows no symptoms, they can still pass the virus on to their partner(s). It is possible to have more than one strain of HPV and it is also possible to be re-infected with HPV more than once over a lifetime.

For more information, please visit: http://hpvpittsburgh.org/