What is HPV? HPV stands for human papillomavirus. There are
animal papillomaviruses too, but they cannot infect humans. HPV
is a large family composed of species (groups) and then types.
For instance, there are two major species that contain the 15
types of HPV that cause cancer. One species contains HPV 18 and
45, the most common causes of glandular cancers; the other
species contains HPV 16, 31, 33, 51, 52, 58, the most common
causes of squamous cancers. Most of the cancers are related to
HPV 16 because HPV 16 is the quickest to progress into a cancer,
but the other types, given enough time, can also form cancers.
There is another species that contains 6 types associated with
genital warts including HPV 6, 11, 13, 44, 55, and 74. These
types do not cause cancer. When HPV invades the skin cell and
stays separate from your human DNA, it can change cells into
warts and abnormal areas that are not cancer pre-cursors, and it
can reproduce making more viruses to infect you or others. When
HPV invades the skin cel