Human papilloma virus (HPV)
Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a viral infection that is spread through physical contact. This makes it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. There are more than a hundred varieties of HPV, and more than forty of those can be sexually transmitted. Even though in some cases the infection will not have any adverse effects on the health, some varieties can cause serious problems like genital warts or even cervical cancer.
In 90% of the cases HPV infection disappears within two years. Very often a person that is carrying the virus is unaware that they are carriers or that they are infecting their sexual partners. When the virus doesn’t go away on its own it develops into warts (condyloma) or various forms of cancer (cervical, anal or throat cancer).
Prevention is of course done through immunisation. In Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut” public health institute has started administering free vaccines in 2022. to any person that is the user of public health system. This is common practice in many European countries. It is recommended that the vaccine is administered to school children, before they become sexually active. Newest research indicates that the vaccine can reduce the risk of cervical cancer by 90%.
