What are the symptoms and long-term complications of genital human papillomavirus (HPV)?

A Most people with HPV never develop symptoms, but sometimes the infection can develop into genital warts, cervical cancer, or other genital cancers.

B Many people with HPV have few or no symptoms, but sometimes the infection spreads to cause serious issues with the nervous system or circulatory system.

C Symptoms include fever, swollen glands, headaches, and fatigue; when the infection is left untreated, it can cause serious issues like cancer and even stroke.

D Symptoms include joint pain, headaches, and abdominal pain; when the infection is left untreated, it can lead to serious issues like heart disease or cancer.

Human papilloma virus or HPV is a sexually transmitted infection. It can infect the genital area like vagina, penis, anus, vulva, cervix etc. It can also infect mouth and throat. It is spread by sexual contact.

Most of the times it is asymptomatic. People might not even realize that they are infected by it. It has no cure and also goes away on its own after sometime. In some cases though it can cause more serious implications like genital warts and cervical, vulvar, penile cancer etc. HPV can lead to cancer because the virus can cause normal cells to become abnormal. Hence it is important to get regular Pap and HPV tests.