Author: Xing Jie (Zhejiang Cancer Hospital)
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a spherical DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid) virus that can infect humans and cause sexually transmitted diseases. The main infection areas of this virus are human epidermis and mucosal squamous epithelium. The common infection sites in women include the cervix, vagina, vulva, anus, rectum, hands and feet and other skin and mucous membranes.
At the same time, HPV is relatively resistant and can withstand long-term survival in a dry environment, and does not require high temperature. Therefore, there are many ways of HPV infection. The main infection routes include the following five:
I. Sexual Transmission
Sexual transmission is the first mode of transmission that comes to our mind when it comes to HPV. Research has long confirmed[1] that Girls who are not sexually active are not susceptible to cervical and vaginal HPV infection. In long-term studies, many of the common risk factors for human papillomavirus infection have also been found to be related to sexual transmission [2]. Major risk factors include:
Early marriage and first sex: People who marry early tend to be more prone to infections.
Having more than 2 sexual partners or having sex outside of marriage: The higher the number of sexual partners, the higher the risk of contracting the HPV virus.
More births, more miscarriages, long-term use of birth control pills: These factors can increase the risk of HPV infection.
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Second, close contact
As we mentioned earlier, HPV is not only found in a woman’s cervix and vagina, but may also live in the mucous membranes of the vulva, anus, rectum, hands, feet, mouth, and even the esophagus and throat. Therefore, “close contact” at these sites may also cause HPV infection.
Three, indirect contact
HPV is a virus with tenacious vitality. Therefore, can survive for a long time in the clothes, daily necessities, utensils and other items used by the infected person, and the contact with these infected items is also HPV. One of the common routes of infection. Here, I suggest that you must correct the following bad habits:
Share other personal items such as towels, toothbrushes, underwear, and underwear.
Utensils such as tableware and chopsticks are shared with others for a long time without regular high temperature or ultraviolet disinfection.
Often use towels and sanitary ware with unknown disinfection conditions, such as towels and toilets in some hotels with irregular disinfection.
Inattentive hand hygiene: Not washing hands promptly after touching potentially infected items. Especially before meals and after going to the toilet, you must wash your hands. If the hygiene is not ideal, it is recommended to wash your hands before going to the toilet.
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IV. Hospital-acquired infection
Health care workers are not well protected during treatment and care, resulting in self-infection or transmission to patients through health workers. Some studies have found [3] that live HPV is also present in the smoke produced by burning during the treatment of cervical precancerous lesions. Long-term inhalation of these viruses will increase the risk of nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal cancer.
In the operating room of some hospitals, the lack of strict requirements for sterility, or the strict implementation of sterility measures, may expose patients to various bacteria and viruses during surgery. At this time, the patient is undergoing surgery, and the immunity is weakened after anesthesia, and the risk of bacterial and viral infection during surgery and perioperative period will be significantly increased.
So, how do you know if a medical environment is sterile and safe?
Here, recommend that everyone choose a regular hospital to see a doctor. Regular hospitals usually use laminar flow operating rooms, that is to say, they will use air cleaning technology to control microbial contamination, so as to ensure that the air cleanliness in the space environment meets the requirements of various types of operations. In addition, the hospital will provide suitable temperature and humidity to create a fresh, clean, comfortable and low-bacteria surgical space environment, so that the patient’s tissue will be damaged as little as possible during the operation, and the infection rate will be greatly reduced to ensure that the patient has postoperative surgery. able to recover faster.
In addition, surgical instruments in regular hospitals will be cleaned and disinfected in strict accordance with national standards, and the completion of disinfection will be verified by nurses before use. The hospital will be equipped with an infectious disease department, which is dedicated to regularly conducting bacterial testing on operating room equipment, checking whether the preoperative handwashing steps of medical staff are standardized, and conducting random checks on the bacterial colony after handwashing, and rectified in time if there is any abnormality. In this way, the medical environment of a regular hospital is still very secure!
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V. Mother-to-child transmission
The risk of mother-to-child transmission is often common during vaginal delivery, arising from close contact of the baby through the mother’s birth canal.
Here, we would like to emphasize the importance of cervical disease screening during pre-pregnancy examinations during pregnancy, especially for second-born mothers >. If cervical lesions are found, timely treatment is required to avoid accelerated progression of cervical diseases during pregnancy, resulting in serious consequences.
At the same time, expectant mothers who have a normal cervix before pregnancy need not worry too much. I believe that some experienced mothers will find that pregnant women are not easy to catch colds, and cold viruses and HPV belong to the virus family. Therefore, The risk of contracting HPV during pregnancy will be significantly lower than usual. This is because the ovaries of expectant mothers will produce a large amount of estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy. These hormones will significantly improve the body’s immunity, create a love barrier for the baby, and resist the invasion of viruses.
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