Recently, Modern Health News published an article about not equating “HPV positive” with cervical cancer, which has caused widespread discussion and deep thinking about HPV infection. Does a positive HPV test for a healthy person mean having unclean sexual intercourse? What should be done? What further tests should be done? Can you have a normal pregnancy and children? With the recent rise in popularity of HPV vaccine, cervical cancer screening and related topics have been pushed to the limelight again. It is believed that with the increasing popularity of health check-ups, pregnancy tests and cervical cancer screening, more and more patients will ask these questions to their doctors. A female friend left a message to the editor of Health News, saying that she had just attended a free medical checkup and got the report sheet, which showed that she was infected with HPV 52 and 56 “high-risk” and stated The report shows that she is infected with HPV 52 and 56 “high risk” and states that “high risk HPV infection can lead to malignant lesions that can eventually develop into invasive cervical cancer”. The woman was 37 years old, a grassroots civil servant, and usually did not feel any discomfort, but only after reading the report did she find out that it was so serious, thinking that her daughter was still young, she wept that night and tossed and turned for several nights. Another woman was found to be HPV positive, although accompanied by her husband to the hospital, but the two in the clinic actually quarreled, it turns out that the husband swallowed some information, said that HPV is mainly transmitted through sexual activity, said if more sexual partners, the chances of HPV infection will also increase. The wife was also angry, saying she was positive that her husband was definitely out having sex. Some women who are preparing for pregnancy are also worried, they are still so young, infected with HPV positive, the child can still want? The fact that they are so young and have a positive HPV infection, will they be able to have a baby? Will they soon be “dead” too? Ninety percent of women heal themselves through their immune system Ever since German scientists clarified the causal relationship between HPV (human papillomavirus) and cervical cancer, the term has become hot, but for the majority of women, there is a tendency to “talk about tigers”. Cervical cancer is one of the three malignant tumors of the female reproductive system, and the most common type is squamous cell carcinoma, which is causally related to HPV infection, but it does not necessarily mean that cervical cancer will occur if you are HPV positive. There are nearly 200 known HPV subtypes, most of which do not cause cervical cancer, and only 14 high-risk subtypes, the most common of which are 16 and 18. In fact, the risk of HPV infection in a woman’s life is more than 50%, that is, more than half, and about 90% of these infections can be cleared by the body’s own immunity in one to two years, i.e., turn negative and heal themselves. For the rest, if HPV is not cleared in more than one year, only a very small percentage of them will eventually develop cervical cancer. In order to prevent this 1% chance from happening to you, you need to see your doctor regularly for screening. This can start with a cervical exfoliation cytology test, such as a combined TCT or LCT and HPV test, a colposcopy in the second step, and then a cervical histopathological analysis in the third step for diagnosis if there is a problem. Please don’t scare patients in the name of science In clinical practice, gynecologists do see many patients who collapse when they mention HPV positivity. In fact, the objective explanation for its positive result should be persistent infection, which may lead to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and, in a very small number of patients, cervical cancer, a process that usually takes 10-20 years. A positive persistent HPV infection indicates that the patient needs to be screened regularly, but this is not a “death sentence” for a woman infected with the virus. In many hospitals, the reports are issued by the same company’s instruments, and the reports are designed by the company. Some doctors do not review the reports carefully and let the absurd tests reach the patients, which makes women with no medical background “embarrassed”. For example, if a woman is suspicious of her partner because she is positive for HPV, or even if she is divorced, it is likely that she has wrongly accused her partner. For women who are preparing for pregnancy, please rest assured that HPV infection does not enter the human bloodstream and will not affect fetal development during pregnancy, nor will it cause malformations. It is possible for many babies to be born infected with HPV, mainly from exposure to HPV-contaminated amniotic fluid, but it will clear up on its own within two years. It is recommended that if you have not had a cervical cancer test before pregnancy, you can have a cervical cytology test during your early pregnancy checkup.