The HPV virus can cause cervical, oral, and other cancers in both men and women. So, what is this virus all about?
👩⚕️ : Dr. Dhwani Mago
👩⚕️ : Dr. Dhwani Mago
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You know, you can incorporate certain changes in your lifestyle that can prevent cervical
00:04cancer.
00:05HPV virus is transmitted through sexual contact, you know, either through normal vaginal intercourse
00:12or anal intercourse or even oral intercourse.
00:15So that is the reason in men, even this HPV can cause cancers.
00:20The fact is that in men, there is no way to check, there is no test as of now that we
00:26can check if a man has HPV virus.
00:35So what causes cervical cancer?
00:37Are there any, for example, if you think of lung cancer, one of the possible causes could
00:41be smoking or something along those lines.
00:45Is there a cause for cervical cancer?
00:46Yeah, so there are many high risk factors which, you know, promote cervical cancer.
00:52And you know, the best part is that all these factors can be changed, you know, you can
00:57incorporate certain changes in your lifestyle that can prevent cervical cancer.
01:02So firstly, you know, the most important factor is HPV virus, that is human papilloma virus.
01:08So lately, you know, everyone's been talking about this virus and about cervical cancer.
01:14So this HPV virus is very prevalent nowadays.
01:18It is, you know, there are 150 kinds of these viruses, but the high risk viruses are the
01:24ones which cause cervical cancer.
01:26Now there are certain low risk viruses which can lead to genital warts.
01:30So which is obviously seen in a lot of sexually active young adults.
01:35And what we notice is that HPV, high risk virus is also very common nowadays in the
01:40young adults.
01:42Another fact is that in men, there is no way to check, there is no test as of now that
01:48we can check if a man has HPV virus.
01:52But for women, there are tests and routine screening tests that we do to detect this virus.
01:58Now this HPV virus, you know, it causes certain changes in the lining of your organs, especially
02:04like the cervix, the oral cavity, the anal canal.
02:07And that is how these change cells, they lead to cancer, they start multiplying abnormally
02:12and it leads to cancer.
02:14So this HPV virus, is it the way most of us know it?
02:18It's an STD?
02:19Is it just an STD or does it go beyond that?
02:23So mostly this HPV virus is transmitted through sexual contact, you know, either through normal
02:30vaginal intercourse or anal intercourse or even oral intercourse.
02:34So that is the reason in men, even this HPV can cause cancers.
02:39So in men, it leads to anal cancers, oral cancers and penile cancers.
02:44And in women, it will lead to cervical cancers, oral cancers and anal cancers.
02:49You said there are 150 kinds of the HPV virus itself.
02:54Can all of them affect everybody or there are certain viruses that women are more susceptible
02:59to certain viruses that men are more susceptible to?
03:01How does that work?
03:02In men, we cannot detect which viruses they are catching.
03:06But generally, you know, if a man is symptomatic, they have genital warts, then those are generally
03:11low risk viruses, they may not lead to malignancies.
03:15And in women, definitely the main HPV virus 16 and 18, that is the one that causes cervical
03:22cancer.
03:23So when we do a pap smear and an HPV DNA test, that is what we are looking for.
03:28We are looking for the high risk viruses.
03:31And in case you have these viruses, you must know that there is no cure, but it is like
03:36a virus.
03:37So it will go away from your body in about six months to one year.
03:42But there are certain factors like, you know, chronic smoking or you having chlamydia infection
03:48or if the immunity of the body is low, then this is the time when these viruses, they
03:53last in your body longer, which may lead to cervical cancers.
04:01For more information visit www.ISGlobal.org