Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the name of a common group of viruses. They usually do not cause any problems, but some types can cause genital warts or cancer.
Symptoms of human papillomavirus (HPV)
HPV often does not have any symptoms, so you may not know if you have it and do not have any problems.
But sometimes the virus can cause painless growths or lumps around your vagina, penis or anus (genital warts).
How HPV spreads
Many types of HPV affect the mouth, throat or genital area. It’s very common and easy to catch. Most people will get some type of HPV in their life.
You do not need to have penetrative sex or sexual contact with a lot of people to get HPV. You can get HPV the first time you have sex or even if you have not been sexually active or had a new partner for many years.
You can get HPV from:
- any skin-to-skin contact of the genital area
- vaginal, anal or oral sex
- sharing sex toys
Conditions linked to human papillomavirus (HPV)
In some people, some types of HPV can cause:
- genital warts
- abnormal changes in the cells that can sometimes turn into cancer (high-risk HPV)
Cancers linked to high-risk HPV include:
- cervical cancer
- anal cancer
- penile cancer
- vulval cancer
- vaginal cancer
- some types of head and neck cancer
You can have HPV for many years without it causing problems.
Testing for human papillomavirus (HPV)
HPV testing is part of cervical screening. During cervical screening, a small sample of cells is taken from the cervix and tested for HPV.
Screening is offered to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64 to help protect them against cervical cancer.
Find out more about cervical screening and how it helps protect against cervical cancer
How to protect yourself against human papillomavirus (HPV)
You cannot fully protect yourself against HPV, but there are things that can help.
- Condoms help protect you against HPV, but they do not cover all the skin around your genitals, so you’re not fully protected.
- The HPV vaccine protects against the types of HPV that cause most cases of genital warts and cervical cancer, as well as some other cancers. It does not protect against all types of HPV.
For more information on the HPV vaccine, go to:
Treating human papillomavirus (HPV) infections
There’s no treatment for the HPV infection. Most HPV infections do not cause any problems and are cleared by your body within 2 years.
If HPV causes problems, such as genital warts or changes to cells in the cervix, you can have treatment for these.
