Transmitted during sexual intercourse, papillomavirus (HPV) are viruses that can cause more or less serious lesions and evolve towards cancer.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) are very contagious viruses that are transmitted in relation to sex (with or without penetration, even protected). We consider that 80% of people will meet an HPV during their sexuality, tells us from the outset Dr. Charlotte Chollet, surgeon in gynecology at the Iuct-Ocopole and CHU in Toulouse. In 90% of infections, the immune system eliminates the virus. In 10%, the virus persists and can induce precancerous lesions which can evolve towards invasive cancer. This development is slow, cancer generally appears 8 to 15 years after the infection. The so -called “oncogenic” HPV viruses are particularly HPV 16 and 18. “At the time of HPV infection, there is no symptoms. In other words, when you catch an HPV, it is strictly asymptomatic. We do not realize it and we cannot find the contaminating sexual intercourse. When the symptoms appear, it is that the disease is already in place or at an advanced stage“Explains Dr. Chollet. When they are cancer, HPV can cause:
→ Gynecological cancers (mainly cervix, more rarely vagina, vulva, and anal margin in women), whose symptoms can be:
- Vaginal bleeding after intercourse
- Spontaneous vaginal bleeding outside the period of rules
- Pain in the lower abdomen or in sexual intercourse
→ ENT cancers (amygdals or on the basis of the tongue – throat), whose symptoms are not very specific:
- Persistent pain in the throat (often confused with a dragging angina)
- Ear pain
- One or more size in the neck (lymph nodes)
The so -called “low -risk” viruses (HPV 6 and 11 for example) evolve very rarely in cancer and are a little more symptomatic: they can cause condylomas, internal genital warts (in this case, they are not visible to the naked eye) or external (in the vulva, clitoris or anus …) which degenerate very little.
Are symptoms different in humans?
Man eliminates HPV viruses more easily than women. And in humans, lesions being mainly on the penis or anal margin, the symptoms are generally detected earlier. On the other hand, in women, the cervix being at the bottom of the vagina, the symptoms “speak” later, replies our interlocutor. In other words, in women, there are few symptoms until the disease is advanced.
Regular screening even if you are vaccinated
Cacers of the cervix are almost all linked to an HPV, hence the importance of vaccination recommended for all young girls and for all young boys aged 11 to 14 and men with sex with men until the age of 26. It can also be proposed in catch -up until the age of 19. Vaccination does not exempt screening in order to detect precancerous lesions in order to avoid the development of cancer. This screening must be regular and according to the recommendations in force:
► For women between 25 and 29 years old: the screening test is carried out by cytological examination every 3 years at the doctor (generalist, gynecologist), a midwife or an analysis laboratory, after two first tests carried out at 1 year intervals and whose results are normal.
► For women aged 30 to 65: the HPV-HR test is carried out 3 years after the last cytological examination whose result is normal. A new test is redone every 5 years, until the age of 65, as soon as the test is negative.
