What You Need To Know About HPV Transmission

Human papilloma virus, or HPV affects about 20 million people—men and women. Every year, millions of Americans get infected with a new genital HPV. This is quite an alarming rate, and it does say something about how HPV transmission occurs. Let’s talk about the ways in which HPV can be transmitted and its processes in the body after transmission.

When a person is infected by HPV, the virus establishes itself in the basal cell layer and maintains the viral genome at 50 to 100 copies. The viral genome then multiplies to more than 1000 copies in the upper layers of the epithelium. HPV is so common that there are over 100 types of HPV, of which 30 to 40 types are transmitted through sexual contact.

How Is HPV Transmitted?

HPV can be transmitted through sexual intercourse/contact or from a pregnant mother to her child. Infection can spread through any sexual contact, including oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse. While HPV is mainly transmitted through sexual intercourse, studies have shown that HPV can also be passed on to another person through sexual contact without intercourse (i.e.: oral intercourse). However, this incidence is rare. Furthermore, it is possible for a pregnant mother to pass the virus to her child during delivery, where the child can develop laryngeal papillomatosis. HPV transmission through pregnancy is also a rare case.

How Do I Know If I Have HPV?

Transmission of HPV from one person to another can be considered a silent infection, since signs and symptoms are sometimes not obvious. Many individuals do not suspect that they have HPV because the signs and symptoms do not show at all. On the other hand, HPV can trigger other diseases such as skin warts, genital warts, cancer, and respiratory papillomatosis.

Warts found on the skin often appear on the hands, feet, knees, or elbows. These warts are typically raised above the skin and appear bumpy. Genital/anal warts may appear as a sign of HPV and is the easiest to identify among other types of warts. The major symptom of respiratory papillomatosis is difficulty breathing and recurrence of the condition even after treatment or surgery. In very rare cases, respiratory papillomatosis leads to cancer.

Is HPV Contagious?

HPV is definitely contagious, especially when there is sexual contact with a person who has vaginal or penile warts. There is great risk of transmitting or being infected by HPV for any sexually active person. HPV is so contagious that it is the most widespread sexually transmitted disease in the United States. One of the major reasons why the virus is easily transmitted is that genital warts may be present but not visible to the eye. This is called subliminal HPV and more research still needs to be done to study subliminal HPV.

Reducing the risk of HPV transmission may mean avoiding sexual contact with another person. Realistically, one should refrain from being sexually active with multiple partners and instead stay within a monogamous relationship, as this can lower down your chances of acquiring HPV. To this date, there is no known significant reduction of risk when condoms are used.