Does getting HPV increase your cervical cancer risk?

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SOME 250 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Ireland annually. In 90% of those cases, the cancer is caused by the prolonged presence of the HPV virus in cervical cells.

Does this mean that you are more at risk of cancer if you get infected with HPV? 

It’s a little bit more complicated than that, according to Dr Nóirín Russell, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and clinical director of the Irish cervical screening programme, CervicalCheck.

“HPV, or the human papilloma virus, is a really common group of viruses,” she says. 

“At least 80% of people are infected with HPV at some point, usually through skin-to-skin contact during sexual activity. 

Most experience no symptoms and clear the infection from their body within a year or two without ever being aware of it. 

“But…

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