Question

Mary hears that HPV--the virus that causes warts--can also cause cervical cancer. Mary freaks out because she remembers having warts on her fingers as a child that were treated with liquid nitrogen and eventually went away. Also, she is pretty sure she has a plantar wart on her foot that she picked up at the shower at her gym. Should Mary be concerned about cervical cancer given this history? What should she do?

Answer 1

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted disease which is known to cause cervical cancer. The low risk HPV types are known to cause genital warts which are basically bumps on the vagina. It is not necessary that being exposed to warts as child necessarily causes the cervical cancer as in her case she got warts on her finger and foot. It is known that only high risk HPV is responsible for causing cervical cancer. However there are ways to avoid HPV and cervical cancer by getting vaccinated. The HPV vaccine Gardasil is something that is recommended for preventing HPV related cervical cancer. She should be checking for any symptom like presence of genital warts and some symptoms of cervical cancer is bleeding between periods, heavier than normal periods, painful sex, abnormal vaginal discharge etc.