Hi

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of virus that infects humans. There are many different types of HPV that can be transferred to different parts of the body. Depending on what type of HPV it is and where the HPV is on the body will determine how it passes to another person, for example HPV that causes plantar warts on the bottom of the feet pass to people differently than the HPV that causes genital warts. The one thing they have in common is that the virus was in one person and then passed to another person.

It can almost seem like they magically appear for a number of reasons. The HPV that infects the genital area is really common but most people never get any symptoms. We also find that most people also clear the virus in time. This means that most people who have had sex will get genital HPV but it will come and go without them ever knowing. It can always be a surprise when someone develops genital warts as they could have got the HPV from someone with no symptoms. Currently there is no clinical based test in BC that is able to see if someone has an active HPV infection on their genitals.

For more information on HPV have a look at our HPV page.

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Health Nurse

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