First, Haddad and the other doctor are not virologists, nor experts on HPV. We don't even know the entire life history of the HPV16 virus, so it is pure speculation that you could have a long latency period, or that the virus goes dormant. The absolute truth TODAY is that is speculation and there is no proof that it does or does not behave that way. It is just as likely that since the virus is so common, that you get infected and repeatedly clear it, having periods of activity, and non activity in testing as a result. There are viruses that behave both ways, and what this particular HPV does no one knows. Another misconception is that all people who have been exposed to it will develop a serum antibody that matches it, and that, while it does happen often, is far from an absolute. I have said it many times before here, that we only have been able to culture HPV16 outside a host in the last two years. That should give you an idea how far behind the 8 ball we are on understanding this thing. If you can't examine it and test it in a laboratory environment, learning everything about it can be difficult, and without that ability you have numerous cofounders that make what you find out far from absolute.

I had to laugh at that description of the virus lodging in the folds of the vaginal walls or tonsillar crypt though, that is a sophomoric description of an incredibly complex and elegant organism's behavior. Do they get how small a virus is? Trapped in the folds of tissue? Really? These little guys penetrate cell walls, they don't have to hide in crevices...

Since 30 years ago we were not aware that the HPV16 virus was anything of consequence, we don't have many oral tissue samples (in any significant numbers) that would allow anyone to have a percentage of growth from current peer reviewed published data..... that would only be available in the cervical world, then extrapolated into what is likely to be happening in oral. There is a retrospective study about to be published, and it also has a projection for the next 5-10 years by Gillison et. al. funded partially by OCF, and the future is really staggering bad looking. Yes, it has been ramping up, for some period of time and that is accelerating, it is hardly remaining at 3% per year.

Testing for Ingrid and I is cervical in her, and oral in me. The testing I have done is not available to the public, and is not fun. I don't do it to "watch out" for anything, but for scientific purposes that benefit someone else's knowledge. As to invading my privacy, I have none by design. I have been the poster boy for HPV+ oral cancer on TV and in articles for years. Ingrid used to cringe when I talked about our sex life in public venues, but not anymore, and if people like me are not willing to discuss things openly, then it is hard to advocate for the disease. I wouldn't have chosen to do all this, it chose me. For the record, I have not changed my sexual behavior with my wife in the last 12 years since my OC. It is clear from the many tests that Ingrid's immune system defends well against the virus. Obviously mine does not do a very robust job of things.

I do not think there is a proven scientific reason for the propensity in the numbers for males to get HPV+ oral cancers in far greater numbers than women. I would make a layman's guess that just as men men go south on women as vice versa. Speculation would be that this is a virus that has been infecting women for years, (high reservoir of virally infected females, since it can take a year+ to clear the infection) that environment attracts it (Squamous cells everywhere) and men's penis on the exterior has less of a propensity to harbor the virus. It lives in the urethra which is significantly smaller but lined with squamous cells.