Can HPV Vaccine Also Prevent Genital Disease?

Medical Video: Dr. Gregory Poland discusses HPV vaccine for young people

If you are sexually active, you may have been infected with HPV (Human Papillomavirus) at least once in your life. Most cases of HPV do not show symptoms and will die on their own. But in other cases, HPV can survive in the body and cause harmful infections. Therefore the HPV vaccine program was promoted by the government to prevent various manifestations of HPV infection.Besides cervical cancer, it turns out that this vaccine can also prevent venereal disease. But how effective?

The HPV vaccine is one step to prevent the risk of transmission of genital warts

Human papillomavirus or HPV is a virus that spreads through unprotected sex. There are various types of HPV. About 40 types of HPV spread easily through sexual activity.

Some types of HPV virus can cause genital warts. You can get infected when touching the genitals of a sex partner who has warts, both by hand and through contact with body fluids carrying viruses, such as vaginal or semen fluids. Therefore, the HPV vaccine prevents transmission of genital warts that spread through sexual intercourse.

But the HPV vaccine cannot prevent other types of venereal disease caused by bacteria (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis), parasites (trichomoniasis), and other viruses (hepatitis B, genital herpes, HIV, zika). The HPV vaccine only serves to prevent HOV infection, which can be cancer of the cervix or genital warts. To prevent the risk of various venereal diseases from other causes, other methods are still needed.

So, what should I do to prevent transmission of venereal disease?

The HPV vaccine is a specific preventive measure only to prevent transmission of a venereal disease, namely genital warts caused by HPV infection. Actually there are still many other ways you can do to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases more broadly and comprehensively. For example:

1. Having safe sex

It is important for you to always have safe sex. Use condoms in the right way (don't double; don't use them repeatedly) and don't change sex partners. You can also use dental dam as a protection during oral sex.Also, make sure that your partner does not have a specific virus in his body.

2. Get a vaccine for other viruses

It's not enough just to get an HPV vaccine, you also have to get a hepatitis B vaccine and hepatitis A. The HPV vaccine can already be obtained since you were 12 years old, while the hepatitis B vaccine can be given from birth. A new hepatitis A vaccine may be given to children over the age of 1 year. To find out when and what type of vaccine you should have in order to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, you should consult a doctor.

Can HPV Vaccine Also Prevent Genital Disease?

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