Hello,

I hope that this question is in the right section... if not, I will be grateful for better advice. I am writing from Germany, therefore please excuse for my humble style. If you are interested in my "history", you are welcome to read it in the "introduce yourself" section.

I have asked my doctors to take a sample from my tumor and to have it examined for HPV. The result will be available in few days.

Even if in my case the cancer will not be caused by HPV, my general question may be interesting for readers generally:

Question: If someone has a tumor as caused by HPV, is the one now a source for fresh viruses himself?

And if so, is it then possible to infect the rest of the head by onself? i.e. , for instance, the primary cancer is at
the tongue, but then the spread viruses infect also throat, esophagus and else within few weeks?

Is there any knowledge about this problem?

Best regards - Peter

The anatomical locations for HPV positive oral cancers are isolated to only a few areas. They are all listed on the HPV page if you clic the link HPV in this sentence. Spread of the virus to other parts of the head or body is something we know little about, but we do not see very many second primaries in HPV positive patients, and certainly not outside the few areas listed on that page.

What we don't know about HPV is greater than what we do know.

We do know exactly how the virus takes control of the cells but we don't know how to stop it other than killing the bad cells along with the good ones.

We know that by age 50 over 80% of the population has been exposed to the virus but we don't know why a small percentage of those are susceptible to the virus successfully attacking the cells.

We do know that it causes cervical, oral, penal and anal cancers but we don't know if it moves around the body.

We think it can lay dormant for years but we don't know why, where it hides or what triggers it to come out of hibernation so to speak.

We see positive results from conventional Tx but we don't know if the virus is totally killed post Tx. We see positive results from the Gardasil vaccine in pre sexually active children and there are ongoing studies to see if by boasting our immune system's response, HPV can be more effectively attacked. Hopefully in the future both of these methods can significantly reduce the onset of HPV related cancers.

Remember I am not a doctor and Brian is much more on top of all the topics related to OC so if he corrects anything I say, I would go with his version.

David hit all the pertinent notes right on key.... nothing to add unless you have a very specific question.

Today I received the result of the tissue analysis: no HPV.

Nevertheless, since I am much interested in what is going on in health issues, I will stay much interested in news about HPV and the difficulties with the present poor knowledge.

Good luck Peter.