HPV question

[tentacle]

Hi,

 

Friend of mine went regulary, each year, to gynecologist. Doctor everytime for years said to her she is perfectly healthy. She have one partner for about 9 years. Then one day doctor said to her she have HPV. Doctor also said to not panic that many women get it and live normal life and often that organism heal from hpv on its own. My friend and I talked and she is sure that she didnt get from her partner becuase she is his first sexual partner. My friend have had sexual partners before marriage.

 

Anyway what is mystery to us, how she could get it if for last cca 10 years doctor said she is healthy, she didnt cheated her husband, neither he cheated her...

Is it possible that she get infection from exams...unsterilized equipment...?

For how long incubation of hpv virus can last...?

[Micro.Pete]

Hi Tentacle,

I'll try to answer your questions:

As you probably may know the Human papillomavirus can infect keratinocytes in the skin and also mucous membranes in the body. In fact the majority of HPV infections occur in the skin and are sub-clinical (without any symptoms). One way to transmit HPV, rather than during sex, includes infected skin of the hands. Thus by infected hands one can transmit the virus to other parts of the body, such as the genitals. Transmission of the virus using contaminated equipment is possible, but is less common and quite rare, so I really think the main reason for the infection was caused by hand-genitals contact.

Note also the not all the HPV strains are carcinogenic. From about ~170 HPV types that were identified only 15 are carcinogenic (among them types: 16, 18, 31, 45, are placed under the "high carcinogenic risk" group).

 

The best thing to do is to continue the regular Pap test screening. She can also ask her physician to take a genital swab and send it to the virology/microbiology lab for HPV detection and typing.

[tentacle]

thanx on your response. and what about oral sex? is it possible to get HPV with it?

[fiveworlds]

Yup especially if the genital area wasn't recently washed or going for a swim especially in a public swimming pool. Or maybe she went for a swim in contaminated waters offshore. If you are worried about it there are condoms. Its about as common as a verruca which are caused by hpv. Really common here. You can get it from using communal baths or showers. But if you are using showers the genital area is less likely to get infected. If you have been dealing with a verruca or wart and improperly washed your hands before touching your genital area there is a chance you could spread hpv.

 

and often that organism heal from hpv on its own

 

We use an acid (Salicylic acid) with pumice stone. Acid forms a layer over the wart then you shave it with the pumice stone. Recommendation was about once a day, I'd recommend three times a day until they disappear. Try to leave the acid layer on the wart overnight it will stop the wart taking oxygen etc from the air. They prefer a damp environment so ensure that the area is clean and dry before applying the acid. Also try to treat them as soon as possible. If you leave them too long they tend to grow and infect the regenerating layer of the skin which makes removing them difficult to remove and causes them to re-occur. The acid and pumice kills the top layer of skin which is infected with hpv. The bottom layer of skin won't have hpv. Your skin grows from the bottom up so by killing the top layer you encourage the body to regenerate faster as if you got a cut. Only it regenerates cells without hpv while the cell with hpv are killed. There is this misconception that if you do nothing you will heal on your own sometimes this is true but most of the time you really need to ensure that the bottom layers of skin don't get infected and that means treating them when they occur.

Edited November 27, 2014 by fiveworlds

[MonDie]

You could look up the probability of false positive for whatever medical test it was.

Edited December 22, 2014 by MonDie

[fiveworlds]

There is also a vaccination for hpv now

[PhilGeis]

fiveworlds - can you provide the data for HPV transmission via exposure in public swimming pools and beach bathing?

 

I'd also like to see clinical evidence for the pumice sal acid cure you recommend.

[Xalatan]

Hpv is a sexually transmitted disease.