Xiaofang has a physical examination every year. This year, because she was married and had sex with her husband, she added a gynecological examination. Unexpectedly, the examination result surprised her: in the HPV examination, HPV6, HPV16 and HPV31 are all positive, and HPV6 is also a high-risk type.

This made Xiaofang panic, because she heard that HPV infection is not far away from cervical cancer. Thinking that she was going to develop cancer at a young age, Xiaofang became more and more afraid. She also had a big fight with her husband when she got home. , scolding him for his indiscretion and making her sick.

However, her husband said that Xiaofang's HPV infection is not necessarily caused by living a married life with him, but may be caused by other reasons, and he does not bear the blame.

The two of them disagreed, so Xiao Fang came to ask Ben Jiu: What is the probability of being infected with HPV if you have sex?

How much does HPV have to do with sex?

Before answering this question, let's do a simple science for sisters who don't know much about HPV.

HPV, short for Human Papillomavirus, has been shown to be a causative factor in tumors of the anus and genital tract, especially cervical cancer, and some tumors of the oropharynx. Various warts and wart-like growths on the surface of the human body may also be associated with it.

There are as many as 200 subtypes of HPV, of which about 50 subtypes can infect the reproductive system, which are divided into high-risk and low-risk types. HPV35, HPV39, etc., high-risk types are prone to cause cervical precancerous lesions and cervical cancer in women.

So how exactly does HPV get infected?

HPV is suitable for living in a humid, warm environment, and it is distributed in the skin and mucous membranes of many parts of the human body. The World Health Organization explains the transmission route of HPV as follows:

• Direct skin-to-skin contact is the most effective way of spreading HPV;
• Perineal contact is necessary for a woman to acquire HPV.

In general, HPV virus infection mainly occurs through micro-abrasion of the epithelial tissue, allowing the virion to bind to the human papillomavirus receptor, thereby allowing the virus to enter cells through mediators, causing infection.

Therefore, the main route of transmission of HPV infection is sexual activity. In the process of sexual life, after repeated friction of key parts of women, it is easy to cause damage to the local mucosa of the vulva, vagina, and cervix, and the HPV virus is easy to enter, so the probability of HPV infection is greatly increased.

Therefore, sexually active women have a high probability of being infected with HPV virus in their lifetime, and the infection rate is as high as 50% to 80%. But women who are not sexually active, even children, can also get HPV.

This is because sexual life is not the only way of HPV infection. Mother-to-child transmission, iatrogenic transmission, and indirect transmission (ie, contact with infected people's clothing, daily necessities, etc.) are also ways of infection.

Does HPV positive lead to cervical cancer?

Another term associated with HPV is "cervical cancer."

Many people are worried that they will develop cervical cancer when they see HPV positive on the test list. It is good to have this awareness, but there is no need to worry too much.

Because 70% to 80% of women will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives, but in most cases, HPV will be cleared by the body's immune system within 1 to 2 years, so some people think they have never been infected, in fact It may have been cleared after infection.

Continuous infection of high-risk HPV, especially HPV16 and HPV18, may cause cervical epithelial lesions, and it takes a long time to develop into cervical cancer.

More than 60% of mild cervical squamous dysplasia will spontaneously regress, 10% to 20% will develop into moderate to severe dysplasia in about 2 to 4 years, and only 5% will develop from atypical hyperplasia in 10 to 20 years. Mild dysplasia naturally evolves into cancer.

Since cervical precancerous lesions and early cervical cancer have almost no symptoms, some people may find out after screening after intercourse, so the best way to prevent cervical cancer is "early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment".

• means of inspection

Cervical cancer screening currently involves HPV testing and TCT testing. HPV test mainly checks whether people carry HPV virus, usually using dye microscopy, HPV DNA detection, serological experiments and other methods.

TCT examination is the detection of thin layer cells in base fluid, which can comprehensively judge whether cervical lesions occur by observing the morphology of lesions and the morphology of cells.

The "China Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Guidelines" recommends that the initial screening age is 25 to 30 years old, and women over 65 years old can not continue screening if there is no abnormal TCT test in the past 10 years or two consecutive HPV tests are negative.

• Prevention method

There is no specific medicine for HPV infection. Cervical cancer vaccination is an effective measure to prevent cervical cancer. There are three main types of vaccines currently on the market:

Bivalent vaccine: mainly prevents HPV16 and HPV18, and can cover 70% of cervical cancer after vaccination;

Quadrivalent vaccine: In addition to preventing HPV16 and HPV18, it can also prevent two low-risk types of HPV6 and HPV11;

Nine-valent vaccine: On the basis of the quadrivalent vaccine, it can also prevent HPV31, HPV33, HPV45, HPV52, and HPV58.

It is recommended that eligible women be vaccinated.

Although there is currently no specific medicine for HPV infection, when HPV is positive, it is not only a matter of sitting still.

After HPV infection, women may have some symptoms, such as itching, abnormal leucorrhea, redness and swelling, etc., which belong to the categories of "pudendal itching", "pudendal sore" and "leukorrhea" in traditional Chinese medicine. Adjuvant therapy with traditional Chinese medicine preparations. For example, Bikai Baofukang Suppository is formulated with curcuma oil, borneol, etc. Curcuma oil can clear heat and detoxify, remove blood stasis and activate blood, and borneol can also clear heat and relieve pain, which can help relieve symptoms.

At the same time, it is recommended that women who are sexually active should also be treated with their partners after being infected with HPV. Males are mostly in a latent infection state after infection, and basically have no symptoms, so even if the female HPV turns negative, if the male is still a carrier, it is easy to cause repeated infection, which will not heal. It is recommended that if there are abnormal symptoms in the key parts of men, such as abnormal secretions, itching, pain, etc., you can use Curcuma antibacterial gel, which is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial.

> > References: >

> > 1. Xie Ningna, Song Shufang. Research progress on HPV and cervical cancer and precancerous lesions[J]. World Latest Medical Information Digest (Electronic Edition), 2016:71-73. >

> > 2. Chang Shuhua, Jiang Ying. Observation on the curative effect of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of cervical HPV infection[J]. China Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology, 2012: 74-75. >