"Girls who have been vaccinated against HPV have messy private lives!"

HPV has been a popular word on the Internet in recent years. It is the culprit of cervical cancer and is mainly transmitted through sexual behavior, so many people associate it with "promiscuity."

As relevant knowledge becomes more popular, more and more people understand the dangers of HPV infection, which is a good thing. However, a search on the Internet still yields many bizarre comments:

——"Girls will get this disease only if they don't love themselves."

——"I will never marry a woman infected with HPV in my life."

Some people even want to get the HPV vaccine, but hesitate because of various prejudices.

These remarks are really ignorant, disgusting, and stinky. What is more terrible than the virus itself is always prejudice.

Can HPV infection really be equated with promiscuous sexual activity?

The answer is of course no!

First of all, we need to understand what HPV is?

Strictly speaking, HPV is not a disease, but a DNA virus. Its full name is "human papillomavirus", which includes more than 200 subtypes. It is divided into low-risk and high-risk types according to whether it is carcinogenic.

Different types of HPV subtypes have different susceptible parts of the human body. Some HPV viruses can be transmitted without sexual contact.

For example, if you are infected with a low-risk skin type of HPV, you may develop wart-like growths on your hands and feet, usually called "warts", which are benign lesions.

This type of HPV infection is very common in life and can usually be transmitted directly through skin contact, but more than 90% of people can clear it through their own immunity within 1 to 2 years.

In addition to transmission through direct contact, HPV virus can also be transmitted through indirect contact, mother-to-child transmission, and other routes. For example, close contact with clothing, towels, or other daily necessities of an HPV-infected person in daily life can lead to cross-infection (although the infection conditions are more stringent, there is still a certain probability of occurrence).

Therefore, a positive HPV test result does not mean that one’s private life is chaotic.

How common is HPV infection?

For women who have had sexual activity, the chance of being infected with HPV in their lifetime is as high as 80%, and some people don’t even know that they have been infected.

Among them, 84.5% of cervical cancers are caused by persistent infection with high-risk HPV.

As long as the immune system is normal, most HPV infections can be cleared by the body within 2 years.

That is, HPV infection is not the same as "promiscuity" or cervical cancer. It is very likely that your body has already cleared it up before you even realize you have HPV.

At the same time, there are many ways to prevent HPV infection:

Prevention methods

1. People who have sex can greatly reduce the risk of HPV infection by using condoms regularly;

2. After the age of 25, take TCT tests regularly to understand your physical condition in a timely manner;

3. The most important thing is to get the HPV vaccine as soon as possible. Cervical cancer is currently the only malignant tumor that can be prevented by vaccination. Whether it is a bivalent, quadrivalent or nine-valent vaccine, it has a protective effect on us.

In the face of the mindless cognition and stigmatization of HPV, what we need to do is to adjust our mindset and not be ashamed to talk about it, nor leave it alone.

Get vaccinated early to prevent problems before they occur.