Confusion! It's such a terrible (HPV) strain . . .

May 30, 2006 12:14 PM

HPV and all that it entails. Transmission, treatment, talking with partners. I've read this and this and this. I've talked to my doctor, I've read the websites, I'm still confused. And do I need a new doctor?

Males don't have a test for HPV. But supposedly the virus will clear itself from their bodies in two years--does this mean ten years down the line there will still need to be disclosure about the possibility of HPV (I'm thinking yes)? "Hey, I'd love to bang you, but you could get cervical cancer from it"?

For men and women, I'm correct in assuming that if you have HPV, visible warts or no, viral shedding is going to make it essentially a given that your partner will get HPV if the entire genital area isn't covered in saran wrap?

And what about oral sex? I've heard you can get warts in your mouth, I've heard you can't, I've heard it's rare. How rare is rare? Is it a risk worth taking?

Then there's treatment. There's freezing, there's lasers, if you have it on your cervix there's LEEP, there's creams, there's electrocautery. My doctor is advocating the use of lasers, but I read there's a high risk of reemergence (70-80%, according to WebMD). He says there's too much damage done to the tissue by electrocautery. I asked about using creams and lasers in conjunction, but he was evasive and says he's not a fan of self-treatment. Also, they're itching like mad. He tells me they don't itch and the itch is an indication something else is going on. But online one of the symptoms is itching! I'm getting bad feelings about this guy. Should I be? And if better doctors are out there, how would I find them?

Then there's having sex with the partner who infected you with HPV in the first place. If they're asymptomatic and your warts are removed, are you going to promote reemergence by having sex with them? This relates to the first question about the inevitability of transmission. Will the two of you keep giving it back and forth to one another, neither to ever fully clear it out of their bodies?

I know there's a lot of information out there about HPV, but little of it is fully comprehensive and a lot of it is contradictory. Perhaps MeFi could provide some solid answers?

posted by anonymous to health (6 comments total)

Itching is DEFINITELY a symptom. The creams burn like the dickens and don't work. You can give HPV even if no warts are present. That's all I know. And I'd find a new doc.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:33 PM on May 30, 2006

Another thread (just last week).
posted by SeizeTheDay at 12:42 PM on May 30, 2006

Anon writes: "Males don't have a test for HPV. But supposedly the virus will clear itself from their bodies in two years--does this mean ten years down the line there will still need to be disclosure about the possibility of HPV (I'm thinking yes)? 'Hey, I'd love to bang you, but you could get cervical cancer from it'?"

Up to about half of infected people, male or female, may clear the virus, which means that they do not have it any more. It is gone from their body, they cannot pass it on. They could bang until the cows come home and there would be no danger that they would pass on HPV unless they got reinfected themselves.

Anon writes: "For men and women, I'm correct in assuming that if you have HPV, visible warts or no, viral shedding is going to make it essentially a given that your partner will get HPV if the entire genital area isn't covered in saran wrap?"

This is not a given. It is possible to get HPV from an asymptomatic person even when using a condom. It is not a certainty by any means. There are a lot of variables, including not only the amount of viral shedding going on (something that can't be reliably estimated), but also the immune response of the non-infected person.

Anon writes: "If they're asymptomatic and your warts are removed, are you going to promote reemergence by having sex with them? This relates to the first question about the inevitability of transmission. Will the two of you keep giving it back and forth to one another, neither to ever fully clear it out of their bodies?"

You aren't going to "promote" re-emergence. Once you've got the virus you will either clear it or you won't. If you don't, it's a chronic infection, and outbreaks will be related to your own body's responses to the virus as well as to stress and other things. One of those things may be the viral load that might be augmented by viral shedding from your partner.

On the other hand, if you do clear the virus, your partner can re-infect you, and you him.

I'm not sure about best treatments. I would be concerned if your Doctor gave you a firm "Males clear the virus in two years" statement. I'm not an expert, but I was recently at a state of the science training about HPV and there was certainly nothing to indicate that all males cleared the virus. I'm 98% sure that this is untrue.
posted by OmieWise at 12:59 PM on May 30, 2006

"...90 percent of women with cervical HPV have no visible symptoms after [two years]..."

Note that that is only referring to the symptoms. Actually eliminating a virus from the body is virtually impossible.

"...incurable but intermittently active and inactive..."
posted by 517 at 2:02 PM on May 30, 2006

Two words: Folic Acid

Don't know why doctors don't make a bigger deal of this but you should take folic acid / b12. 4800 mcg of folic acid until symptom clear and 2000 mcg of b12 - so in other words, ALOT. Then go down to a mainteance amount of 3200 mcg of folic acid, 2000 mcg b12.

Folic acid can really help reduce the infection / symptoms.
posted by zia at 9:18 PM on May 30, 2006

"Actually eliminating a virus from the body is virtually impossible."

This is untrue. It used to be thought that this was the case, but newer research indicates that over 40% of people infected with HPV clear or eliminate the virus from their bodies. At least this is what the STD docs at the STD clinic where I work are taught. It's impossible to tell who's going to be in that 40%, though.
posted by OmieWise at 4:21 AM on May 31, 2006