In the clinic work, often meet a lot of male patients, because the partner is infected with HPV, or partner suffering from condyloma acuminatum, consulting the problem of HPV infection, and many patients because of their own HPV infection, panic, not only mental tension, and for this reason broke a lot of money, so I want to do some explanation on this issue. HPV virus is an abbreviation for human papillomavirus, a spherical DNA virus that has been found to have more than 200 types, but infects the genital perianal area for more than 30 types.
HPV virus in the process of infection of the human body, generally only invade the most superficial layer of the skin mucous membrane cells, namely the epidermis, the main area of infection is the human epidermis and mucosal epithelium, rarely or basically not into the dermis. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus, and some data show that more than 70% of women who have sex have had HPV infection in their lifetime. HPV is divided into low-risk subtypes and high-risk subtypes. low-risk subtype HPV infection mainly leads to the growth of skin and mucosal warts, such as condyloma acuminata; high-risk subtype HPV infection mainly leads to the development of cervical and vulvar cancer. However, the majority (70-80%) of women with high-risk HPV infections have the virus cleared from their bodies by the body’s immune system within 2 years. Only a very small percentage of women have persistent HPV infection, and a very small percentage of women with persistent HPV infection are at risk for cervical, vaginal, or vulvar cancer in the future, with an incidence of less than 5% reported both domestically and internationally. From the data in guidelines and studies, there is no effective treatment for HPV infection, and therefore treatment for HPV carriage status is not recommended. The possibility of future HPV therapies cannot be ruled out, but at this stage, there is no good evidence to support this. Some patients may also be asymptomatic after HPV infection, meaning that the body’s immune system, if it is strong, may suppress the virus at a lower level and can gradually clear it. Only this approach may take a long time. Ultimately the complete clearance of the HPV virus relies on the body’s own immune system and is not the result of drug action. Therefore, for men, no treatment is required for lesions that are not visually or pathologically confirmed. In other words, treatment is only needed if there are visible lesions (such as condyloma acuminatum) or pathologically confirmed lesions have occurred. Remember, the principle of treatment for HPV infection is “treat the disease, not the virus”!