HPV and Vaccinations

HPV or Human Papillomavirus is otherwise known as genital warts and is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States some healthcare providers say that it is not whether or not you get exposed to HPV it is a matter of time when you get exposed if you are sexual active. HPV is a very common sexually transmitted disease that is spread through sexual contact.  As new vaccines for HPV are emerging and being approved for use in teens there may be a lot of confusion on why you should get the vaccine and what the vaccine is preventing.  

Websites like Young Women’s Health will provide a lot of the general answers to questions about HPV. However, if you are more interested in learning more about the vaccine the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has provided the public with a comprehensive factsheet in regards to young women and the vaccine. We overwhelming hear about teen girls and young women being vaccinated against certain types of HPV, however, teen boys and young men are also susceptible to HPV. Recently, there was a vaccine approved for the use of teenage boys.  

Always contact your healthcare provider if you are considering getting vaccinated or have questions about sexual transmitted diseases.

Introduction

With the constant and overwhelming information we get each day on new diseases, STI/STDs or a new flu virus it can be confusing on which information to believe. This can be completely daunting for teens when they are trying to navigate the understanding of disease awareness (risk factors, methods of contraction and transmission, and prevention and treatment) and health choices. In our society teens are lucky enough to have free resources through healthcare professionals but we also have reliable source via the internet.

We are fortunate enough to live in a society in which the internet can be an incredibly useful tool if you know where to look and which websites to trust. One such website is The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This website will provide an invaluable number of resources on any disease you are interested in looking up as well as resources for daily healthy living. Teens can learn about risk factors for disease, how they can possibly contract or transmit the disease, how they can prevent the disease and also useful statistics on the disease.

Another website that is useful is KidsHealth. This website has a section that relates strictly to teens called Teen Health. This section provides information to teens on different diseases and conditions that they are interested in.  This information covers many subject matters like medical tests and procedures to learning disorders.

This information is provided to better enrich teens knowledge on the subject matter and to better understand diseases and health.