Sophia,

Since I tested + for HPV 16 I have tried to find out as much as I could about the virus that tried to kill me. It's been frustrating to say the least.

I have been told many things by doctors that should know, such as:

HPV is highly contagious, even more so than HIV;

One doesn't have to have sex to get HPV;

You can transmit HPV by kissing an orally infected person; and,

You can get it by touching the skin of someone that has the HPV virus present on their skin even if no warts are visable.

Again, these came directly from doctors who one would think should know these things.

I've read as many articles on HPV as I have come across, which aren't many and I am surprised how much they know about how the HPV virus manipulates the cells into turning canerous.

I have equally been surprised that not all "docs in the know" say the same things about HPV and I'm surprised that not all docs that should know basic HPV stuff do know as much as I think I know about HPV and mostly I'm surprised at what is not known about HPV given what is known about HPV.

For instance, they don't know why the majority of immune systems deal with HPV and some don't;

They don't know how the virus goes dormat and what triggers it to become undormat. I don't even know if dormat is the correct work because I had one doc tell me that my immune system may have "dealth" with the HPV virus but some other contributing factor, like stress, may have caused my immune system to say "drop the leash on my HPV and it ran wild";

They don't know if HPV+ SCC killed by current Tx will stay killed; and

They don't know if current cancer Tx will kill actively present HPV virus or just the cancer converted cells.

I have been married to my wife for 18 years and she didn't test positive for HPV so I either gave it to her and her immune system took care of it or she has it and it's dormat and undetectable. Maybe I got it from her and her immune system took care of hers and mine didn't? I'm sure there may be other explanations I'm not aware of yet.

If you find out anything of value please pass it on.

David

Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.