Human papillomavirus (HPV for its acronym in English) is one of the main causes of cervical cancer. Therefore, regular HPV-DNA testing, especially for high-risk HPV infection, is important to predict the risk of developing cervical cancer. Current methods of cervical cancer prevention screening include HPV-DNA testing, traditional Pap smear, thin-layer liquid-based cytology smear, and colposcopy. This technique allows sophisticated testing of HPV to determine if it is a high-risk type of infection, allowing more patients to effectively prevent cervical cancer. HPV infection has a wide range of routes HPV infection can be contracted through direct contact, in addition to sexual intercourse as the main transmission route. In other words, if your hands touch something with HPV in your daily life, you will inadvertently bring the virus into your genital organs when you go to the toilet or take a shower, or your genital organs come into direct contact with bath towels, bathtubs, toilets and other items with HPV, you can be infected with HPV. After HPV infection, most infections will naturally subside after a certain period of time and do not cause changes in cervical cells and cause disease. Even if there is persistent HPV infection, cervical cancer can be avoided if treatment is given in time at an early stage. Women over the age of 35 who have persistent HPV infection are in the high-risk group and have a relatively higher risk of developing cervical cancer. What is human papillomavirus (HPV) and how does it affect pregnancy? Human papillomavirus (HPV for short) is an epitheliophilic virus with a high degree of specificity. HPV has long been known to cause benign human tumors and warts, such as cervical cancer, condyloma acuminatum, and papillomas growing on mucous membranes. (1) Classification of HPV In clinical practice, HPV can be classified into two categories, low-risk and high-risk, depending on the degree of pathogenicity or cancer risk of HPV. 1. Low-risk HPV: Generally speaking, it can be eliminated by its own immune system. (2) High-risk HPV: It can cause external genital cancer, cervical cancer and highly cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, and there are more than one hundred types of HPV, the most dangerous ones clinically are HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, etc. (2) Can patients with high-risk HPV infection become pregnant? HPV infection in women’s cervix is a relatively common disease that can cause cervicitis, condyloma acuminata, endothelioma-like changes in the cervix, and even cervical cancer. Persistent high-risk HPV infection has been shown to be strongly associated with the development of cervical cancer. Therefore, high-risk HPV infection is still worthy of high attention. Whether high-risk HPV patients can get pregnant is a concern for many people. According to relevant reports, it is possible to get pregnant with high-risk HPV infection, but only if it does not cause other pathologies, such as condyloma acuminata, malignant lesions of the cervix, etc. Therefore, firstly, early detection and complete treatment of high-risk HPV infection should be given, followed by curing the cervical lesions before preparing for pregnancy. However, to completely cure HPV infection, advanced testing methods are needed, and only accurate test results can make the treatment and prognosis of HPV infection better. What are the common HPV testing methods? Commonly used HPV detection methods include the following: 1, nucleic acid blotting in situ hybridization: suitable for HPV typing and HPV-DNA molecular weight identification, high sensitivity, but the operation is complex, requiring fresh tissue specimens, not convenient for clinical promotion. 2, spot blotting: its sensitivity and specificity are lower than nucleic acid blotting in situ hybridization method, economic and practical, but there is radioactive contamination during the experiment. 3, in situ hybridization: detection of paraffin tissue by non-radioactive probes, and can do localization detection, low false positive rate, but the sensitivity is not high. 4.Hybrid capture method (i.e. HC2-HPV-DNA test): Now Wuhan Renai Hospital is using this leading method to detect the typing of HPV and the degree of harm caused to the cervix, which makes up for the deficiency of cytological examination, thus providing a clinical treatment basis for the treatment of HPV, in order to achieve early detection, early treatment, away from cervical disease and healthy pregnancy. How often should HPV testing be performed? 1.First HPV test: If you are over 30 years old (special groups should be earlier) and have never been tested for HPV, you should perform an HPV test at the same time as cytology examination. 2. If you are between 20 and 30 years old, HPV testing is required only if the cytology results are critical, i.e., atypical cell change (referred to as “ASC-US”). 3, HPV review: If you are over 30 years old, the frequency of HPV testing depends on the results of the previous test. If both the cytology and HPV test results show normal, the test can be repeated every 3 years.