What it is: HPV is a very common sexually-transmitted virus, related to the virus that causes warts elsewhere on the body.

How you get it: Skin-to-skin contact. Vaginal, anal or oral sex with someone who has the warts or the virus.

Symptoms: Usually painless, sometimes itchy warts appear anywhere in the genital region, externally or internally. They have a different appearance depending on where they are: harder and whiter or browner on the outer genitals, softer and pinker inside the vaginal canal or on the cervix. They may appear individually or in clusters.

Prevention: Barrier methods, such as condoms and diaphragms, help reduce the risk, but since it's transmitted skin to skin, you can still get it. Lots of people have warts and don't know it. Others just have the virus and don't know it.

Treatment: Once a doctor has diagnosed warts, they can be frozen, burned, lasered or just plain cut off. Take-home topical medications are also available. Some untreated warts can just keep growing, possibly breaking and bleeding if they are irritated.

Long-term Implications: Some strains of the virus (HPV) that causes warts are also linked with cervical cancer, as well as pre-cancerous conditions of the cervix, although the number of such cases is relatively small.

The Pap smear is a reliable way to detect cervical cancer, which is far easier to treat and cure in earlier stages. Every woman needs regular Pap smears, usually once a year. Those who have been diagnosed with HPV may need them as frequently as once every 6 months.

In June of 2006, the first ever HPV vaccine (Gardasil) was approved. This vaccine can protect women against four types of HPV and prevent the development of cervical cancer. However, if the individual does not receive any medication, it is believed some HPV cases stay in the body for life, just like the herpes, hepatitis, and human immunodeficiency viruses (even if no genital warts are present).