Other than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and herpes, most people do not know much about sexually transmitted diseases.
Diseases like gonorrhoea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis and human papillomavirus (HPV) are some of the other serious sexually transmitted diseases.
While in most of the cases HPV resolves on its own, some strains can persist and progress to genital warts or cervical cancer.
A person can get infected with HPV shortly after becoming sexually active. HPV does not require penetration for its transmission, even skin-to-skin genital contact can transfer this infection.
HPV can cause cancer in various parts of the body such as the cervix, vagina and vulva in women, penis in men and anus and back of the throat.
From children to adults, everyone needs to get vaccinated for HPV. The HPV vaccine cannot be given after a certain age.
The HPV vaccine can be given as early as age 9 years. The vaccine can be given until the age of 26 years as after that doctors do not recommend the vaccine.
The HPV vaccine can be given in either 2 or 3 doses.
There should be a gap of four weeks between the first and second dose, 12 weeks between the second and third doses and five months between the first and third doses.