Transmission of HPV
HPV is not transmitted by blood. The most common means of transmission is by skin-to-skin contact with the penis, scrotum, vagina, vulva, or anus of an infected person. Kissing or touching a partner’s genitals with the mouth can also transmit HPV. Using a condom does not guarantee protection since the virus can be on an area of skin not covered by the condom.
HPV is usually acquired at a young age at the time of sexual debut (typically measured as the age of ’first intercourse’). Research shows that sexual debut for young Canadians (male and female) can be as young as 15 years of age and it has been reported that oral sex is practised by girls as young as 12 and 13 years old, regardless of their social or economic background.
Genital warts are very contagious and are spread during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with an infected partner. Most people (66%) who have sexual contact with a partner infected by genital warts will develop warts themselves, usually within three months of contact. Genital warts can cause problems during pregnancy:
- Sometimes they get larger, making it difficult to urinate.
- They can make the vagina less elastic and cause obstruction during delivery.
- In rare cases, infants born to women with genital warts develop warts in their throats — a potentially life-threatening condition for the child.
Genital warts may last for years and eventually go away. Even if this happens the HPV virus can remain dormant in the body and the manifestation can return at a later date.
The natural course taken by an HPV infection varies over time and from one person to another:
- Genital warts can develop quickly inside or outside the vagina, usually within
three months of contact. - Within one year of initial HPV infection, low-grade cervical dysplasia (CIN 1) may develop (CIN stands for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and is a system of classifying cervical lesions: CIN 1 = mild, CIN 2 = moderate, CIN 3 = severe).
- In some women the HPV infection persists and can lead to the beginning stages of cancer (CIN 2-3) — this transformation is generally slow and can take anywhere from five years to a lifetime.
