Hi Stacey

HPV is also found as part of the normal childhood development. so you were right the first time

I have found a brilliant FAQ sheet from the American Cancer Society about HPV, cancer and vaccines that should answer all your questions

http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/002780-pdf.pdf

The summary below is taken directly from the sheet and answers as many of your questions as I could remember

HPV is short for human papilloma virus and comprise a group of more than 150 related viruses which ar distinguished from each other by their type. So HPV-16 is human papilloma virus, type 16.

About 75% of all HPVs cause warts on the skin. This might be what you referred to as developing in a normal childhood. I had one as a kid on my index finger for a couple of years and eventually my mother put something on it that turned it black before it finally fell out leaving a crater for a couple of months. These warts are common in kids and are not sexually transmitted.

The other 25% are called mucosal HPVs and are mostly sexually transmitted. They are called mucosal because they are attracted to and grow in the moist skin areas such as vagina, anus, oral cavity etc.

HPV-16 is a mucosal HPV and is sexually transmitted.

As you have already found out, it is possible for a mother to pass HPV onto their newborn ( vertical transmission). According to the faq sheet, it is rare.

The sexually transmitted kind of HPV is also very common and over 14 million people get a new HPV infection every year, approximately half of whom will be in the 15-24 age group.

Nearly all sexually active men and women get HPV at some point in their lives. Most don't know they have/had it.

In the US, you can get the HPV vaccine for both females and males and it is approved from the age of 9 up to the age of 26. I do not know if it is covered by your health insurers though. It is best to get the vaccine before the person becomes sexually active as this is when it works best.

I would recommend that you read the whole sheet a there is a wealth of information and there aren't many questions that it doesn't answer