HPV virus can have a genital transmission: skin on skin (meaning by all the types of sex). The virus can be transmitted even if the person who has the infection does not present any symptoms of it.
Recently, the science men are making researches of some particular situation of HPV infection. A research direction is HPV and pregnancy (infection with Human Papilloma Virus during the pregnancy and the complications that the infection may produce to the pregnancy).
HPV and pregnancy – What is the impact on the mother? There are not yet sufficient studies that can demonstrate that the HPV infection can complicate a pregnancy, raise the risk of spontaneous miscarriage, of births before term, of pre-eclampsia or may lead to other pregnancy disorders. That is the reason why the tests for HPV are not usually made during the pregnancy. However, the tests for HPV diagnostic can be effectuated during the pregnancy if it discovered that you have genital warts or in the case of abnormal vaginal smear.
When the Papanicolau test is abnormal, the doctor can recommend you a colposcopy within it can be effectuated a biopsy if there is a suspicion of cancer caused by HPV infection. If there are not any proves of cancer, it is recommended to wait until birth in order to treat the infection.
Women who have genital warts produced by HPV infection will be put under medical observation during the entire pregnancy. The treatment is rarely recommended because the genital warts usually cure by themselves in a short time after birth. If the treatment is necessary, the therapeutic measures that can be taken are the following: cryotherapy (the genital warts are frozen with liquid nitrogen), an acid substance which chemically eliminates the warts, electro-ablation, medical procedures based on laser and classic surgery.
In certain cases the genital warts can cause problems during the pregnancy. They can increase their volume and they can bleed. Sometimes they grow enough to produce compressions and provoke micturition problems or, if they have another vaginal localization they can produce the reduction of the vagina’s elasticity or obstruction at birth. In this case it will be needed caesarian operation at birth.
Doctors do not know for certain which are the reasons why genital warts increase their volume during the pregnancy. It may be caused by some changes of the organism during the pregnancy, such as hormonal changes or immune changes. HPV and pregnancy – What is the impact on the baby? In the case when the mother is infected with HPV there is a small risk that the virus will be transmitted to the baby during the birth. Fortunately, even if the Human Papilloma Virus is transmitted to the baby, his/her organism is able to eliminate the infection of this virus.