You may be surprised to learn that cervical cancer is caused by a common and easily transmitted virus: human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Some types of HPV spread through genital sexual contact. Because many people who become infected don’t have symptoms, they can unknowingly spread the virus.
In fact, HPV is so common that by age 50 as many as 8 of 10 women who have sex will be infected with it.
While in most cases HPV does not have any symptoms, that’s not always the case. The virus can cause diseases ranging from benign (non-cancerous) changes in the cervix, lesions such as genital warts, cervical pre-cancers and cervical cancer.
