Experts say 20 million Americans are living with HPV. It’s a disease which can be prevented.
HPV is a lot more common than you might think.
"HPV stands for human papillomavirus. And human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States,” said Dr. Sheila Overton from Castle Medical Center.
Dr. Overton says there are as many as six million new cases of HPV reported each year.
And the disease can infect men and women.
"In women, it is more likely to lead to what we call pre-cancerous changes and those pre-cancerous changes can occur on the cervix, in the vagina and on the outer external genital area,” she said.
But many people can have HPV and not know about it - a dangerous situation.
"That is, most people do not know that they have the HPV infection and therefore they can spread the HPV infection without being aware of that at all,” she said.
Once again, HPV is most often passed from person to person through sexual contact.
It is not necessarily fatal, but in recent years medical science has come up with vaccines to protect against the virus.
"There are currently two HPV vaccines that are available for young women and young men. What's important to point out is the most commonly used HPV vaccine was approved by the FDA in 2006 and it protects against the two most common types of HPV,” she said.
Medical professionals recommend the vaccine, especially for young women, between the ages of ten and 26.
"There's also a newer HPV vaccine available as of 2010 and I would encourage your viewers to discuss the two different HPV vaccines with their health care provider,” said Dr. Overton.
