HPV, also known as the Human papillomavirus is actually a collections of different strains of the virus. About 10 of these can lead to cervical cancer
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My aunt was told that if she had gone another year, her prognosis would be a different story. The cancer would have spread outside of her reproductive organs and surrounding tissues. Currently, they are looking into how radical of a surgery is needed to completely remove the cancer.
Regular paps would have caught the problem earlier on, which is the message she wants to share.
Condoms are known to reduce the risk but the virus can be carried in the genital area not covered by a condom. Due to the no physical signs of the virus, one has no idea who has it or where.
The only way to stay HPV free is to abstain from genital contact. Since that is not going to happen, getting regular pap smears is more important.
My aunt is strong and confident. It's absolutely crazy that she has lead community education initiatives about STDs and never knew the details of HPV. Before heading the oncology unit, she headed the infectious disease unit for HIV. Its like HPV was a medical secret probably because the medical community has no efficient way to handle it other then checks for cervial cancer and precancerous cells.
Don't forget the supressed vaccine. Might not fix everything (it only target 4 strains), but I'll bet it's more effective than condoms.
"The vaccine, known as Gardasil, with an estimated $2 billion U.S. market potential, targets four types of sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts."
I am in the same situation as your aunt. I have been married for 15 years and absolutely know 100% that my husband has not cheated on me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but he would never do that to me. He is a devoted, loving husband and we have been through so much together. I have never cheated but was recently diagnosed with HPV through a Pap smear and now have pre-cancerous cells. My doctor has not offered much information when I asked how long it can remain dormant. He says he does not know but usually if a person has HPV they were infected recently. This I cannot agree with
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Re: Me too
anonymous
September 27 2006, 12:41:17 UTC
Sometimes informations on topics that concern women's health isn't up to date across all sources. HPV has been around for ages but it is until recently that this has been brought to the foreground and being addressed. My aunt heads an oncology unit at a prestigious, university hospital. She had never heard of HPV before. The literature she was given was by researchers in the field.
HPV is a virus. When you are first exposed to it, you may not know and your body defends itself from it. Like chicken pox's relation to onset of shingles, during times of stress or lowered immunity, HPV can resurface. The chicken pox virus can lay dormant for over 30 years.
I wish you the best and understand that you are not the only one. Good luck and hope everything turns out well.
Re: Me too
anonymous
September 29 2006, 02:03:14 UTC
thank you for the feedback. It is just really depressing because I feel I cannot tell anyone about the my situation. I feel like if I tell anyone that I have HPV and it has led to dysplasia, then they will think I or my husband have cheated on each other. I really cannot deal with that on top of having to deal with the pre-cancerous cells. HPV comes with a stigma because there is not enough information and people are not educated (even my doctor offered little support!). I am confident that my doctor is making sure that I am okay. I have a scheduled LEEP procedure and although the outer tissue of my cervix shows high grade changes, my inner tissue has no abnormal cells. This is great, if I have not had the Pap when I did, it could have turned into cervical cancer. So, for now, I will get this done, and continue to re-pap every 6 months.
Re: Me tooragingcanarySeptember 29 2006, 16:09:01 UTC
It depends on your personality. My aunt due to her career and past, she took the road of telling everyone to help educate them. For many years she headed Infectious Disease Units for hospitals and regularly taught courses and spoke at conferences about STDs. She later moved to Oncology to where she is now, she continues to speak at medical conferences and conventions
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Regular paps would have caught the problem earlier on, which is the message she wants to share.
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The only way to stay HPV free is to abstain from genital contact. Since that is not going to happen, getting regular pap smears is more important.
My aunt is strong and confident. It's absolutely crazy that she has lead community education initiatives about STDs and never knew the details of HPV. Before heading the oncology unit, she headed the infectious disease unit for HIV. Its like HPV was a medical secret probably because the medical community has no efficient way to handle it other then checks for cervial cancer and precancerous cells.
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"The vaccine, known as Gardasil, with an estimated $2 billion U.S. market potential, targets four types of sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts."
Reply
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HPV is a virus. When you are first exposed to it, you may not know and your body defends itself from it. Like chicken pox's relation to onset of shingles, during times of stress or lowered immunity, HPV can resurface. The chicken pox virus can lay dormant for over 30 years.
I wish you the best and understand that you are not the only one. Good luck and hope everything turns out well.
Reply
I am confident that my doctor is making sure that I am okay. I have a scheduled LEEP procedure and although the outer tissue of my cervix shows high grade changes, my inner tissue has no abnormal cells. This is great, if I have not had the Pap when I did, it could have turned into cervical cancer. So, for now, I will get this done, and continue to re-pap every 6 months.
What is the outcome for your aunt?
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hi,
always open to meet new people from around the world.
:D
leave a message !
greets.
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