Human Papilloma Virus

Human papilloma virus which is responsible for various kinds of warts and most cases of cervical dysplasia usually lives in skin cells. It is most often spread by sex but it can also be transmitted by other ways. The transmission of human papilloma virus may occur through any contact with the skin of the infected person. The infection with this virus is often not accompanied by obvious signs, that is why the majority of infected people do not know they are virus carriers.

If the virus is present in the skin, it may stay inactive for some period of time. It may become active, develop and cause different problems if the immune system of the infected person is weakened. The weakness of the immune system may be due to different factors like smoking, malnutrition, poor living conditions and various diseases. It should be mentioned that human papilloma virus infection may develop without showing itself. Once infected, the person is very likely to be a carrier for life.

After human papilloma virus becomes active, it changes the cellular structures so that the cell will produce new virions. Modern methods do not allow to destroy the virus when it is inside the cell. It is possible to eliminate infected cells through different surgical procedures, but, in this case, the problem is how to determine whether the cell is infected or not, because the virus may be present in visually normal cells. For this reason, when treating human papilloma infection it is critical to stimulate immune system which is able to recognize the virus and destroy it directly.

Human papilloma virus infection is the primary cause of warts and vaginal, cervical, vulvar and anal dysplasia. Human papilloma virus infection is also proved to be the essential risk factor of cervical cancer. There is good evidence that about 95% of women having cervical cancer are infected with human papilloma virus.

Human papilloma virus infection and its signs may be detected using different diagnostic tests. Warts induced by human papilloma virus may be identified through visual inspection. If the doctor suspects the presence of lesions associated with human papilloma virus, it may be necessary to perform cytological and histological evaluation of suspected zones. There are also different tests available which are able to detect DNA of human papilloma virus.