Human Papilloma virus (HPV) infection is very common: most of the time it heals spontaneously within a few months or year, thanks to the intervention of the immune system; in all other cases, it can lead to cervical, ano-genital and oropharyngeal tumors.
The HPV vaccine has shown the greatest efficacy in women who have never come into contact with the virus, therefore it is indicated to young women who have not yet had sexual intercourse. The benefits are however evident even in case of previous HPV infection, already overcome at the time of vaccination.
The vaccine, on the other hand, has not proved effective in cases where the infection is present at the time of vaccination or in treating alterations of the cervix that have already developed. In fact, it is a preventive and non-therapeutic vaccine.
