Cervical Cancer & HPV

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• 0:04What HPV is
• 0:49High-risk strains
• 1:12How HPV spreads
• 1:58Most people clear it
• 3:05Who gets cervical cancer
• 3:50What to remember

Full transcript

1. 0:04What HPV is

   Hi, I'm Dr. Taz Varkey, and today I'd like to talk to you a little bit about cervical cancer prevention. This discussion starts by understanding a virus called HPV. HPV stands for human papillomavirus. There are many different strains of HPV. In fact, we've identified at least 150 different strains of HPV to date, and we've categorized them into low-risk strains and high-risk strains.

2. 0:26

   The low-risk strains can cause warts. Now, preschoolers bring home warts on their hands, people get warts on the bottom of their feet, and people get genital warts. These are all caused by low-risk strains of HPV. We call them low risk because they can't cause anything medically significant or dangerous to a patient.

3. 0:49High-risk strains

   They just make us feel bad and they're a nuisance, but once we treat them, they often go away and don't recur. On the other hand, we've also have these high-risk strains of HPV, and to date we've identified 15 different high-risk strains of HPV, and we call them high risk because they can cause different types of cancers. They can cause cervical cancer most commonly, but also vaginal cancer, vulvar cancer, anal cancer, even throat and mouth cancers.

4. 1:12How HPV spreads

   So they're significant and they're important for us to know about. To make matters more complicated, they're transmitted sexually between two people, even when there's condom use. So they're transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, so even if a couple is just engaging in intimate touching or has oral sex, it's possible that you can transmit the high-risk HPV strain back and forth.

5. 1:35

   Also, it's really common. About 30 percent of the sexually active population carries one of the 15 strains at any given moment, so we know that you have a one in three chance when you meet someone new that that person can have one of these 15 strains of HPV.

6. 1:58Most people clear it

   If you put this all together, it's pretty distressing. High-risk HPV is very common. There are 15 different strains. It's very easily transmittable and it can cause cervical cancer and other types of cancers. So how come we're not all running around with cervical cancer? Well, the good news is the majority of the sexually active population in the United States that carries one of these 15 strains will clear it within one to two years of catching it.

7. 2:21

   So yes, our immune system will play a part in taking care of us, in fact probably more so than what the doctor or anybody else does. Most patients will clear it within two years. That doesn't mean you don't have to go in for check-ups, but that does mean that you can relax a little bit if you're found to have this virus and just like let your doctor follow you and take care of you.

8. 2:43

   So what we've found is that if we check people over time, by the end of two years the high-risk HPV virus is most often gone or at least at undetectable levels. Some people, however, hold on to this virus a little longer, maybe three or four years, and again it can be distressing, but in the majority of cases it eventually goes away.

9. 3:05Who gets cervical cancer

   So who gets cervical cancer? Well, there's a minority of patients that can't get rid of it. They hold on to it for five, six, ten years, and they eventually, if they're not watched by a doctor, could end up getting cervical cancer.

10. 3:27

    The good news is if you go in for regular check-ups, and we're going to talk about Pap smears and that kind of thing in future episodes, but if you go in for regular check-ups with your gynecologist, oftentimes we can catch these abnormal cells on the cervix in the precancer stages before they get to cancer, and we can treat it often just with office procedures and make it go away that way.

11. 3:50What to remember

    So I want you to understand about the virus because I think it's important not to be casual with your sexual partners and who you sleep with, but also be aware that if you do contract HPV, as long as you follow up with your doctor, oftentimes it'll go away, and if it doesn't, hopefully your doctor will catch it in time and keep you from getting anything too serious.

12. 4:14

    So I hope this was helpful. Again, I'll talk about some other topics in regards to cervical cancer prevention on future episodes, so please tune in, and thank you so much for subscribing.