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HPV FACTS
- The Pap test misses women with pre-cancerous cells 15-20 % of the time.
- 7 out of 10 new HPV infections go away on their own, without causing problems within a year.
- Combining the HPV test with the Pap test in women age 30 and older increases accuracy to nearly 100 %.
- Women with HPV infections that don't go away are 200-plus more likely to develop pre-cancerous cervical disease.
- About 8 of 10 women will have HPV by the time they're 50.
- There are more than 100 types of HPV (Human Papillomavirus). Approximately 30 of these strains are sexually transmitted.
- HPV is passed on by skin-to-skin contact, not by transmission of bodily fluids, so it can't be entirely prevented by condom use, and not at all by birth control pills.
- HPV is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer in women (and, more rarely, penile or anal cancer in men).
- More than 5,000 women die every year from cervical cancer. Studies have shown that between 50 and 75 percent of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives.
- HPV can go away on its own, or it can stay for years with no symptoms at all.
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