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HPV

A health care worker preparing a shot of the HPV vaccine. — A health care worker preparing a shot of the HPV vaccine. Photo: Matthew Busch for The Washington Post (Getty Images)

The infection: HPV is caused by the human papillomavirus, though there are over 200 different types of it. Nearly every sexually active person is thought to carry HPV, while more than 46,000 HPV-related cancers are thought to occur in the U.S. annually.

Symptoms and long-term effects: Certain types of HPV can cause warts around the genitals, anus, or mouth, depending on how it was contracted. Other types will cause no acute symptoms but increase the risk of cancer in both women and men years or decades later.

How to treat it: When given early in life, the HPV vaccine is effective at preventing infections caused by the majority of cancer-causing types of HPV, as well as some that cause warts. Warts can go away on their own, but treatments like freezing can remove them as well.

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