no, there is no "cure" for hpv although most ppls bodies will fight it off and it will lie dormant in your system and not give you any problems. look at it this way, almost everyone has gotten chicken pox at one point in their life, right? well technically, we are all suffering from "chicken pox disease" even though most of us will never have another problem with it in our entire lives. the reason why is b/c it is a virus, there is no cure for a virus and there is no way to remove it from your body, your immune system simply suppresses it, sometimes to such a low number that it isnt detectable by modern tests. if you want proof that the virus is never really gone, then here it is. have you ever heard of shingles? it is a skin problem caused by the chicken pox virus (which is, incidentally called Varicella herpes zoster, so it is a diff. form of herpes) reactivating in your system for some reason. for many years these were considered two different diseases but it is now known that shingles, which affects most people in their 40's or later in life, is caused by the chicken pox virus reactivating in the body, and most (75-90%) of the people who get chicken pox get it before the age of 10. so what does that tell you? that the virus was lying dormant in their system for an average of 30 years before any problems occurred. does this mean that everyone who has had chicken pox is going to have another outbreak and get shingles? no, of course not. but does it mean that these people are "cured" and no longer have the virus, obviously the answer is no to this too. my point is, while most people will never have another problem with it, they aren't "cured" in the traditional sense b/c the virus is still in their system. so then we have to look at what does "cured" mean anyways? do we take "cured" to mean that we no longer have the virus or that we no longer have visible symptoms? if it is that we no longer have visible symptoms, then there are a TON of ppl out there who are "cured" of hpv b/c they dont have any visible warts. of course there are over 30 known strains of hpv that are sexually transmitted and only 3 of them are known to produce visible warts, hpv 6, 11, and 18. the others all make microcellular changes, not visible to the naked eye, and these are the ones you really have to be worried about. these are the ones that are more likely to cause cancer b/c they are making changes to the cells. so here in lies the problem. this is why it keeps getting passed so much is because ppl think they are "cured" b/c they dont have visible warts, but if they are infected with a high risk and a low risk hpv, then they are still carrying the high risk type and they cant see it. doctors dont know at what point you become incapable of passing the virus, it does occur though. the problem is that while your virus count may be so low that you cant pass it RIGHT NOW, it doesnt mean it wont flare back up and become transmissable again, esp if it is the kind that doesnt produce warts. this is why it is so important to tell all future partners that you have been diagnosed with hpv even if you havent had any visible symptoms, they have a right to know there is a POSSIBILITY, i'm not saying it is guaranteed, but there is a possibility that they could be affected. i hope this helps.
this is a link to a site talking about chicken pox and shingles, for anyone who is interested.
http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc82.html
Comments:
11/13/2004 4:06:37 PM
-
thank you. that was very informative.
11/14/2004 6:24:13 AM
-
Is the above message correct?
11/14/2004 8:21:21 AM
-
yes, do some research on the topic, it even has a quote from planned parenthood on the first page of hpvfaq, that says there is no "cure"
11/15/2004 9:42:26 AM
-
if everyone with hpv stopped having sex we would have a serious decline in our population
11/15/2004 9:43:55 AM
-
there are more than just 3 strains that cause warts these are just the more popular ones...
11/15/2004 8:51:33 PM
-
"The goal of the following treatments is to control the virus, but it is important to understand that the underlying HPV infection can't be cured. Like any type of viral infection, HPV stays in your body and can cause warts to appear in the future, particularly when your immune system is suppressed."
11/15/2004 9:04:21 PM
-
i didnt say everyone should stop having sex, i said everyone who has ever been infected, whether they think they still are or not, has a responsibility to inform all future partners of such infection.
11/15/2004 9:22:36 PM
-
you are right, there are other strains that CAN cause genital warts but it is much less common. cont. below
11/15/2004 9:23:18 PM
-
"The HPV types that cause external visible warts (HPV Types 6 and 11) rarely cause cancer.Other HPV types (most often Types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35) are less common in visible warts but are strongly associated with penile and vulvar intra-epithelial neoplasia (pre-cancerous changes) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the genital area especially cervical cancer and less frequently invasive vulvar cancer." http://dermnetnz.org/viral/genital- warts.html
11/15/2004 9:24:58 PM
-
incidentally, i have hpv related vulvar cancer which is why i am into researching it.
11/15/2004 9:29:52 PM
-
problem is, every page i go to has a diff list of hpv types that can produce visible warts. heres another. "There are about 80 types of human papillomavirus. Genital warts are caused by HPV types 1, 2, 6, 11, 16, and 18." http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/At oz/ency/genital_warts.jsp
11/15/2004 9:43:56 PM
-
here is the most definitive list i have found so far. "Condyloma acuminatum - 6, 11, 1-5, 10, 16, 18, 30, 31, 33, 35, 39-45, 51-59, and 70" http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic454. htm bear in mind though that many of these strains can, but dont always produce warts, whereas type 6 and 11 are universally known for doing it.
11/16/2004 9:50:17 AM
-
df
11/16/2004 9:50:38 AM
-
hpv viral infection MAY cause future infections...at what point does it become moot. After 5, 10, 20 years, after the vaccine comes out and someone is vaccinated should you tell them? they might not be vaccinated against your wart strain you had 20 years ago. Your blanketed statement has many holes in it, ifs and buts. I am not advocating not telling but i think the potential emotional rollercoasters have to be weighed just as well.
11/16/2004 9:51:43 AM
-
there are more people in the DON'T KNOW then the KNOW
11/16/2004 9:54:01 AM
-
with the incubation period this is very difficult to even narrow down where it came from (ie who it came from)...why don't we just take the money for the vaccine and use it to educate people..NO...vaccine much more effective then trying to get people to hunt down EX's and tell them
11/16/2004 11:25:36 AM
-
www.hpvforum.com check this out
11/23/2004 2:13:50 PM
-
If someone could tell me where hpv establishes permanent latency in the body i would like to know....otherwise you cannot prove it is FOREVER its just a fucing
11/23/2004 8:00:25 PM
-
original poster
yeah, your right the potential emotional rollercoaster you are going to send the person on if they get hpv from you should be considered. there is never a moment, not even for a second that you have a right to NOT tell someone, why b/c it will make the relationship harder? how much harder will it be when they find out they have it and you DIDNT tell them. they will feel hurt and betrayed, b/c you KNOWINGLY lied to them. you just dont do that to ppl you care about.
11/23/2004 8:05:02 PM
-
original poster
and you obviously didnt read my post very thoroughly b/c i said it MAY cause future breakouts, but docotrs dont know exactly when you become incapable of passing it, but they do know that even if you are incapable right now, it DOESNT mean you CANT pass it 20 years down the road. so yes, 20, 30 even 50 yrs down the road, you should tell ppl.
11/24/2004 9:38:26 AM
-
..
who cares about 20 30 or 40 years...vaccine will be out in 2006 or 2007 (Merck) there won't be anyone on the board. What about telling someone you think you might have it, the stats are HUGE about 3 in 4 people have been exposed of the sexually active population!!! Two years from now you will have a vaccine to prevent cancer from this....this changes the whole dynamics of things, the health harazd is almost 0. I just don't think you see both sides
11/24/2004 9:38:55 AM
-
...
HPV has definitely won the battle with you emotionally
11/24/2004 9:39:17 AM
-
yes the mental health is probably the biggest concern with HPV
11/24/2004 10:22:10 AM
-
no HPV has "won" the physical battle with me so to speak since, as i have said many times before, i actually DO have cancer caused by HPV, maybe if one of you were in my shoes you might view it a little different, though i am not saying i want ANYONE to be in my shoes. i have gone thru 2 painful surgeries and it is possible that i am about to have another surgery to remove my clitoris b/c the cancer has spread there too. and this was from a VISIBLE wart.
11/24/2004 10:27:28 AM
-
i just dont want anyone to have to go thru this stuff so i try to warn ppl that this isnt just some "harmless little virus" it can cause serious, potentially life threatening problems and i dont want anyone else to go thru that b/c they werent informed. all i was ever taught was that you had to worry about your cervix, no one warned me that visible warts can be dangerous too. i had GW for 8 mo b-4 they turned cancerous.
11/24/2004 10:29:07 AM
-
please ppl, stop bashing on me b/c i wanna help others, i know there may be a vaccine out in a few years that will prevent cancer, but that doesnt do jack for those of us already suffering. and what about between now and then. did you hear me? my cancer developed in 8 months from getting GW. two years is too long to keep not telling others about it.
11/24/2004 1:58:29 PM
-
...
cancer from low risk? doubt it you have had to have high risk as well. I feel for you and your situation, I am sorry don't mean to bash you
11/24/2004 2:02:18 PM
-
df
However, this virus effects people differently as like cancer, some people get cancer and recover to never have it come back where others do. This is a tough issue because it is VERY common the only way not to come into contact w/ this is not have sex. But you probably had high risk, everything i have ever read relates high risk to cancer, it might have not been detect which is very possbile DNA capture test are not the most reliable test in my opinion.
11/24/2004 11:36:15 PM
-
i know it wasnt a low risk strain, but it is the kind that produced visible warts. hpv 6 and 11 usu. cause warts but they are low risk. some of the high risk strains, like 16 and 18 can also cause warts (can, but they dont always) and these two strains are the kind most often found in vulvar cancer. i just try to warn ppl b/c since i had a visible wart, i thought it was low risk and i only had to worry about cervix. i didnt even know that vulvar cancer existed b-4
11/26/2004 2:29:13 PM
-
I think people need to understand a wart means low but not only low risk, and need to get tested and monitored especially women
11/26/2004 10:19:42 PM
-
They say 16 and 18 cause warts because they do create microscopic "flat" wart type lesions, but the conventional cauliflower shaped warts are a function of 6 and 11.
11/29/2004 3:23:53 PM
-
whose to say that the "flat" wart is a combination of high and low risk...a microscopic flat wart is not a clinical wart by definition, at the molecular level yes there is a lesion of some sort because they create cellular changes, but not at the clinical level ie low risk wart
12/4/2004 11:35:19 PM
-
found this article talking about hpv 16, smokers, and vulvar cancer, invasive and in situ (meaning pre- invasive) http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/3DBA6.htm hope it helps
12/7/2004 3:10:16 PM
-
sounds to me the strong link is between smokers and vulvar cancer. Hpv 16 can just be a marker, alot of cancers have markers however hpv16 does equal cancer. Drug companies will always target these markers because they think this is the cause. Low risk probably has more of a chance to develope into cancer especially if one is compromising there immune system...
12/7/2004 3:11:44 PM
-
...idea here is stop smoking and cancer won't be near as big a problem. Your trying to say low risk is as big a deal as high risk...i don't think so.
12/15/2004 3:08:49 AM
-
here is a link to the ACS website talking about what is thought to be the major cause of vulvar cancer in younger women. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/conte nt/CRI_2_4_2X_What_are_the_risk_factors _for_vulvar_cancer_45.asp?sitearea=
12/15/2004 6:52:49 AM
-
original poster
no my point is that visible warts can also be caused by a high risk strain, dont think that just b/c you have visible warts that you have a low risk strain, you can also have a low and a high risk strain at the same time. all i am saying is if you have warts, you should go to the doctor.
