Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffDiagnosing HPV infection may include the following tests:
- Visual inspection of any warts or lesions.
- Vinegar solution test. Your doctor may apply a vinegar solution that turns HPV-infected genital areas white. This may help in identifying difficult-to-see flat lesions. In most cases, there's no value in testing for the exact type of HPV infection that has caused visible warts or lesions because these HPV types don't cause cancer.
- Pap test. Your doctor collects a sample of cells from your cervix or vagina to send for laboratory analysis. If the Pap test results are inconclusive — the laboratory examination doesn't clearly indicate whether the cells have low-grade or high-grade abnormalities — your doctor may order a HPV DNA test. Your doctor won't order the HPV DNA test if the Pap test is clearly abnormal. In that case, the chance of the HPV DNA test being positive is so high, it doesn't yield useful information.
- DNA test. This test can detect the DNA of 13 high-risk HPVs, including types 16 and 18, from cell samples removed from the cervix. If the DNA test indicates a high-risk HPV infection, your cancer risk is greater. If your recent Pap tests have been normal and you're 30 years or older, your doctor may suggest an HPV DNA test as a supplement to your Pap test. If both tests are negative, your next combination Pap-DNA test would occur in three years. If the Pap test is negative but the DNA test is positive, your doctor will advise you on an earlier follow-up examination.
References
- Human papillomavirus: HPV information for clinicians. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/common-clinicians/ClinicianBro-fp.pdf. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Warts, herpes simplex, and other viral infections. In: Habif TP. Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2004. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/118486619-4/0/1195/75.html?tocnode=51441112&fromURL=75.html. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Reichman R. Epidemiology of human papillomavirus infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Cancer facts & figures 2008. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/2008CAFFfinalsecured.pdf. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Reichman R. Clinical presentation and diagnosis of human papillomavirus infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Human papillomaviruses and cancer: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- Reichman R. Treatment and prevention of human papillomavirus infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 30, 2009.
- Reichman RC. Human papillomavirus infections. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2895508&searchStr=human+papillomavirus. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- HPV vaccine information for young women. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/Hpv/STDFact-HPV-vaccine.htm. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- The Pap test. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp085.cfm. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al. Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2006. MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2006;55:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5511a1.htm. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- HPV vaccine: Questions and answers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/vac-faqs.htm. Accessed Jan. 22, 2010.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommended immunization schedule for persons aged 0 to 18 years - United States. MMWR. 2010;58:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5851a6.htm. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
