What is it: HPV, or human papillomavirus is a sextually transmitted infection
How common:HPV is extremely common--75 percent of all women will eventually come in contact with this virus. But the good news is that most of those cases will clear up by themselves in as little as two years.
How/Where can you get HPV: Women's Health reports:
"HPV is spread by skin-to-skin contact with an HPV-infected area. Infections can be subclinical, meaning the virus lives in the skin without causing symptoms. This is why many people with HPV do not know they have it or that they could spread it. It can take weeks, months or years for genital warts to surface after sexual relations with an infected person.
Researchers already know that condoms don't always protect against the virus because warts can grow on areas of the genitals not covered by a latex barrier. A study in Great Britain, for example, found evidence that HPV may be transmitted from one's hands to a partner's genitals. Consequently, some lawmakers are pushing for better labeling of condoms so the public knows that no barrier contraceptive method can completely safeguard against the virus."
Worse yet, "Researchers don't know whether people infected with genital HPV but who don't have symptoms are as contagious as people with symptoms. They also don't know how much HPV is transmitted through sexual contact versus skin-to-skin contact."
Why am I telling you this: Who thought that genital warts wouldn't be the worst case scenario? HPV can cause both genital warts or cervical cancer. Specifically, nearly 100 percent of cervical cancers are caused by high-risk HPV, says Mark Einstein, M.D., clinical research at Montefiore Medical Center and Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. If left untreated, cervical cancer may require chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or a full hysterectomy, and may even result in infertility or death." HPV can also cause cancers of the vulva, penis, head, neck and anus, but these diagnoses are extremely rare.
What can you do: Practice safe sex and get the vaccine. The vaccine Gardasil protects against four of the most common strains of HPV, 16 and 18 (which can cause cervical cancer) and 6 and 11 (which cause genital warts).
Click here to determine if the vaccine is for you.
Bottom line:
Mothers--turning a blind eye to your daughter's sexual health could be deadly. This shot does not mean that you're daughter is slutting around. At some point, they will become sexually active (unless they join a nunnery). So while it may be an unpleasant conversation--it could save your daughter's life.
Girls--I know some of my friends were uncomfortable talking to their mother's about getting the vaccine. The vaccine does not mean that you're a slut. Instead, it shows that you're taking a proactive stance for your sexual health.
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