Sign of HPV

Due to the activity of our immune system, there is no sign of HPV infection in the majority of cases. HPV symptoms and HPV-related conditions generally develop when the immune system of the virus carrier is weakened. A weakened immune system lets the virus reproduce itself and develop in some area of the epithelium, which leads to abnormal transformations of the cells. Affected cells start growing disorderly and, as a consequence of this uncontrolled growth of cells, there emerge different epithelial tumors.

A frequent sign of HPV is the occurrence of skin outgrowths, warts. These are non-malignant tumors with variable shape, color and size that may appear anywhere on the body. Like other cutaneous lesions caused by viruses, warts have a tendency to develop rather quickly and they may extend to other parts of the body. Warts rarely induce serious health problems, unless they grow in the genital area, but they may impair the appearance and cause a significant psychological discomfort.

A common cause of distress for HPV-positive people is the presence of a sign of HPV in the genital area. HPV infection of genital organs is a very frequent sexually transmitted disease in adult people. If HPV infects genital area it is likely to induce such diseases as condylomas and dysplasia which may develop on the penis, vulva, cervix, vaginal walls and around the anus.

It has been shown that a significant number of female patients having an external sign of HPV in the genital area also have HPV infection in the vaginal and cervical tissues. In some of these cases, HPV infection induces the development of cervical dysplasia, a premalignant disease. Dysplasia of the cervix, especially its advanced forms, may degenerate into a malignancy, that is why patients positive for HPV are estimated to be more likely to develop cervical cancer.

Even in case patients have no visible symptoms of HPV, it is possible to detect the infection through modern cytological and DNA techniques. Today the early screening of HPV infection and related diseases in women is considered to be of great importance because it gives the opportunity to prevent cervical cancer. The most frequently used screening tests to find a sign of HPV are Pap test and colposcopic examination.