According to the Center of Disease Control
Based on currently available science, the following recommendations summarize the strategies most likely to be effective in preventing
future infections with genital HPV infection and cervical cancer.
• The surest way to eliminate the risk for future genital HPV infections is to refrain from any genital contact with another individual.
• For those who choose to be sexually active, a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner is the strategy
most likely to prevent future genital HPV infections. However, it is difficult to determine whether a partner who has been sexually active
in the past is currently infected.
• For those choosing to be sexually active and who are not in long-term mutually monogamous relationships, reducing the number of
sexual partners and choosing a partner less likely to be infected may reduce the risk of genital HPV infection. Partners less likely to
be infected include those who have had no or few prior sex partners.
• While available scientific evidence suggests that the effect of condoms in preventing HPV infection is unknown, condom use has
been associated with lower rates of the HPV-associated diseases of genital warts and cervical cancer. The available scientific evidence
is not sufficient to recommend condoms as a primary prevention strategy for the prevention of genital HPV infection, but it does indicate
that the use of condoms may reduce the risk of cervical cancer.
• Regular cervical cancer screening for all sexually active women and treatment of pre cancerous lesions remains the key strategy to prevent
cervical cancer.
• In the future, receiving a safe and effective HPV vaccine to help prevent genital HPV infection as well as the HPV-associated diseases
of genital warts and cervical cancer would be an important prevention measure. However, an effective HPV vaccine would not replace
other prevention strategies.
