Yes, human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection. The CDC classifies it as one of the most common STIs in the United States, with about 13 million new infections each year. Nearly everyone who is sexually active will get HPV at some point in their lives.
How HPV Spreads
HPV spreads most commonly during vaginal or anal sex. It also transmits through oral sex and close skin-to-skin contact during sexual activity. This is an important distinction from many other STIs: HPV doesn’t require the exchange of bodily fluids. Skin-to-skin genital contact is enough, which means condoms reduce the risk but don’t eliminate it entirely since they don’t cover all genital skin.
There are also non-sexual routes of transmission, though these involve different HPV types than the ones linked to genital infections and cancer. Common warts on the hands spread through direct skin contact, especially when the receiving skin is broken or softened. Meat, poultry, and fish workers are prone to a specific type of wart from handling raw product. In rare cases, a mother can pass HPV to her baby during vaginal delivery, and children can spread warts from their hands to their genital area through normal touching.
Why Most People Never Know They Have It
The majority of HPV infections cause no symptoms at all. Your immune system typically clears the virus on its own: research tracking women over time found that about 81% cleared their HPV infection within roughly 19 months. Most people who contract HPV never develop warts or any other visible sign, and they never know they were infected.
When symptoms do appear, the most recognizable are genital warts, which are caused by low-risk HPV types (mainly types 6 and 11). These are not the same strains that cause cancer. Warts can show up weeks to months after exposure and may appear as small bumps or clusters on or around the genitals.
The Cancer Connection
The more serious concern with HPV is its link to cancer. There are 12 high-risk HPV types, with types 16 and 18 being the most dangerous. These strains don’t cause warts. Instead, they can persist silently in the body for years or decades, gradually causing cell changes that may eventually become cancerous.
HPV causes an estimated 39,300 cancers per year in the United States. The breakdown gives a sense of how widespread its impact is:
- Cervical cancer: 91% of cases are caused by HPV (about 11,100 per year)
- Anal cancer: 91% of cases are caused by HPV (about 7,600 per year)
- Throat cancer (oropharynx): 70% of cases are caused by HPV (about 16,000 per year), with men accounting for the large majority
- Vaginal cancer: 75% of cases are caused by HPV
- Vulvar cancer: 69% of cases are caused by HPV
- Penile cancer: 63% of cases are caused by HPV
HPV-related throat cancer in men has become one of the fastest-growing categories, with roughly 13,600 cases per year attributed to the virus. This is largely linked to oral sex transmission of high-risk HPV types.
HPV Screening for Cervical Cancer
There is no general HPV test for men or a test that checks for HPV across all body sites. Screening exists specifically for cervical cancer prevention, and guidelines differ by age.
For women aged 21 to 29, the recommended approach is a Pap smear (cervical cytology) every three years. This test looks for abnormal cell changes on the cervix rather than testing for HPV directly. Starting at age 30 through 65, you have three options: a Pap smear every three years, an HPV DNA test alone every five years, or both tests together every five years. The HPV test is slightly more sensitive at catching precancerous changes than a Pap smear alone, but it also leads to more follow-up procedures for findings that would have resolved on their own.
Screening more frequently than these intervals doesn’t meaningfully improve outcomes and increases the chance of unnecessary procedures. The goal of screening is to catch persistent infections that are causing precancerous changes, not to detect every transient HPV infection.
How the HPV Vaccine Works
The current HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9) protects against nine HPV types: the seven high-risk types responsible for most HPV-related cancers (types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58) and the two low-risk types that cause most genital warts (types 6 and 11).
The vaccine is routinely recommended at age 11 or 12, before most people are exposed to the virus through sexual contact. It can be given as early as age 9 and is recommended for everyone through age 26. For adults 27 through 45 who weren’t vaccinated earlier, it remains an option worth discussing with a healthcare provider, though the benefit decreases with age since most people in that range have already been exposed to at least some HPV types.
The number of doses depends on when you start. Children who get their first dose before age 15 need only two shots. Anyone who starts at 15 or older, or who has a weakened immune system, needs three doses. The vaccine prevents new infections but does not treat or clear HPV you’ve already contracted, which is why early vaccination is so effective.