Hpv?

HPV stands for human papillomavirus. It's a common type of STD so you get it through sexual contact, ie, oral, anal, vaginal intercourse. The best way to prevent it is to use safe sex practices like always wear a condom! Also, there is a vaccine for it called Gardasil but it only protects against certain types of HPV viruses. Because there are many types getting the vaccine won't prevent you from getting other kinds of HPV.

 

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I just though it would be of help Has a lot of great information... and some rather small details which don't matter.

I know that I've been vaccinated for it. I think it was a process of three regular shots. If you want the vaccination, you should be able to get it from your general doctor. But like dreamcatcher said, it doesn't prevent all types of it.

 

Hmm this is interesting..I'm new to all this and it's scary! Any advice from medical people on here?

 

It would be good hear a medical person's take on this. Note to self: get the vaccine.

 

Well, here's the scoop.

There's a couple of these virus like HPV and herpes simplex (HSV) that we have some pretty interesting feelings about.

HPV is a "family" of viruses that cause abnormal growths in the top layers of the skin. If that's a wart on your finger, then you just think "Damn, I have a wart" and you get it treated. But if that wart is on your anus, penis or vagina, then we think it's an STD and we often think of it as "dirty" or "digusting".

No matter where the HPV infection happens on your body- it's all the same virus and it's all spread the same way- but skin to skin contact with someone who has the virus. There's different strains of HPV and some are more likely to result in cancer many years after the initial infection.

The reason that we worry about HPV is not that it causes warts or that it is an STD. We're worried because we're finding that cancers of mouth, cancers of the cervix, cancers of the anus/rectum are increasing because of HPV infections. And the reason that we are recommending that young people get immunized for HPV is because of the cancer connection.

The catch- at least in the current recommendations- is that you get the HPV shots before you're sexually active, so that you build immunity to the virus before exposure. If you are exposed to the virus, the shots aren't as effective in preventing cancer.

 

Thanks Karabulut!! I did some research on my own and it seems like there is a ton of conflicting stuff regarding whether anal pap smears should be given to gay men, whether anal sex can cause lesions (if they do happen) to progress..it just seems confusing....any thoughts there?

 

There isn't a recommendation- yet- on anal pap testing. I expect that there will be a recommendation as the research continues.

Some practitioners recommend them for all men and women who have had genital HPV infections. And they are recommended for HIV+ men. Beyond that, it's really up to the doctor as to whether they are recommended. Because they are a relatively new concept, there may be issues with getting insurance to cover the cost- the out-of-pocket cost is between $300-500 US dollars.

The recommendation that has been made is that all young men should be immunized for HPV which will help both the incidence of genital cancers but also will help stop the spread of HPV.

 

HPV expresses itself in human cells in different ways. Most viruses lack the ability to make copies of themselves directly like a bacteria cell does. What happens in these viruses is that the virus enters the person's cell and hijacks the cell's DNA with virus DNA which tells the cell into a factory that makes copies of the virus.

In some types of HPV, this hijacking of the human cell results in the cell becoming abnormal in a way that we recognize as a wart. In other types of HPV, the human cells are permanently altered in a way that eventually becomes cancerous.

How do we know that HPV is responsible for turning these cells into cancer? Because the virus' DNA can be found inside these abnormal cells.

It's not anal sex that is causing the HPV transmission, at least not directly. What's happening is that this begins with HPV on the penis. Whatever the penis with HPV comes in contact with can also get the virus. That can be a cervix (in the case of women), it can be the inside of the mouth or throat (for men or women) or it can be the anus/rectum (for men and women).

We're just beginning to study these cancer because the recent increase in cancers of the mouth and anus in young people has alerted us that something was going on. Now that we know that HPV is implicated in these cancers, more studies will be done.

A single exposure is all it takes to get HPV, so it doesn't matter whether you had sex with 1 infected person or 10 infected people. What does matter is that there are different types (or "strains') of HPV, so you can get exposed to different types from different partners.

We're finding that HPV infections are very common- particularly in heterosexuals. What we don't understand is why some people have a short period of infection and then seem to recover but other people go on to develop long-term infections and/or cancers.

The HPV vaccine doesn't provide protection for all types of HPV- there are close to a 100 different types. The vaccine provides protection against the few types that we know are most likely to cause cancer.

 

There's some other threads about herpes and HIV where we've had discussions about risk and responsibility.

Sex will never be a no-risk proposition. The same is true of holding hands. The same is true of kissing.

Probably the best allegory is driving a car. Sure- driving a car is probably the single riskiest thing that the average person does. A car wreck can kill you and most of us know pf someone who was killed or injured in a car wreck. But most of us depend upon cars to get us to work, to school and places that we need to be. So, we accept that risk and do things to reduce the risk like wearing seat belts and not driving drunk.

Sex is a normal and healthy expressions of affection between two people. There are some things that you can do to reduce your risk- condoms, for example. But the thing that we don't talk enough about is being responsible- making better choices, not making choices when you've had too much to drink and not having sex with someone just because you're both horny.

I would never advise someone to not have sex at all just because there's risk. But the risk is something to consider when you're making the choices that an adult has to make when it comes to who and what you do.