Thanks, Brian. I can completely understand the FDA's age parameters given the percentage of women identified by their gynecologist as being infected. The only way a vaccine would not work on me is if I had been exposed to
HPV-16 because I would already have antibodies for it. According to my doctor, I have never been exposed to
HPV-16. I do not have antibodies for it.
I also spoke with a gynecologic oncologist about
HPV and about general immunology as well. This is the information I received: Once someone contracts any virus, the body either dies from it or recovers from it. But, the virus antibody remains identifiable in the host. Rarely, a virus is active in a host without symptoms causing a carrier situation. It is never really "cleared" by the body. This is why vaccination is unnecessary when immunity has been conferred by a virus such as chicken pox, etc. With vaccination or illness, there are antibodies present--the proteins from the dead virus present, either way. However, regarding the more insidious viruses such as
HPV and HIV, exposure causes changes to take place within the cells that eventually cause immune system damage in the case of HIV and, often times, cancer in the case of
HPV-16. Regarding
HPV, there are no symptoms of the active virus. It is only when tissue cells begin to show signs of abnormal structure does it usually become detected and an
HPV-16 or other cancer causing strain is identified. At this point, the host is more than likely no longer contagious but the permanent damage has already been inflicted. The cells are acting on the programming caused by the initial virus not actually the virus itself.
With the chicken pox virus, it can cause shingles long after the host has recovered from the virus. However, a host can only get chicken pox once and immunity is conferred. In the herpes virus, it can flare up because of some trigger experienced by the host or the host can be outbreak-free. However, in both cases, antibodies are still present. Transmission and systemic exposure depends on the virus and to what body system(s) it prefers to attack and what type of contagion is present when it manifests. It is presumed that
HPV is not contagious after the host has recovered from the initial exposure. However, with other viruses, such as herpes, the host is contagious whenever there is an outbreak present.
Whether someone has been infected once or multiple times with
HPV or any combination of it's strains, it will have produced antibodies. Does multiple exposures cause more of a risk for cellular damage? Probably. But, once someone has gotten it, they have it for the rest of their life. Like the old saying goes, "love may come and love may go...but
HPV (like herpes) is forever."
One thing that is happening with
HPV is a mutation process that is producing new strains of
HPV. There are over 100 strains of
HPV and more to come. Some are benign and some are not. If you think about the influenza virus, that is why no one becomes immune from the flu and why there isn't an effective vaccine. It mutates from year to year. When a virus mutates, there is no built in immunity to the new virus strain. If someone does not retain a life-long immunity to
HPV, the mutation process may be to blame. However, antibodies would still be present. Therefore, if no antibody to a particular strain exists in an individual, then a vaccine would be effective at preventing that individual from becoming infected with that particular strain. Medicine will be forever playing catch-up with
HPV. The
HPV vaccination program is a step in the right direction, without a doubt.
So, that's the information I have received from a general gyn and an oncologic gyn who deals with cervical cancer detection and treatment on an every day basis.
Immunology and and
HPV are both tricky subjects. There is still so much to be learned about
HPV. Considering I have had one partner in 27 years and am testing negative, I don't think it is unreasonable to assume I have not been exposed to an active
HPV-16 virus. Certainly, I can contract it at some point forward. But, who's to say I'm not one of the 20% who won't have it by the time I'm 60?
I will be more than happy to pay the $150-$180 per dose x 3 if my doctor would be allowed to administer it. After all, there are many other therapies,
Erbitux for one, that don't work on everyone. And, there is no way of knowing on whom it will work.
Erbitux costs tens of thousands of dollars by the time someone has received 8 infusions at $4,600 a dose. Considering what oral cancer does to a person and the havoc treatment wreaks on him or her, I think I'd rather take my chances with the vaccine.
As for the few married couples who have developed
HPV+ oral cancer, perhaps one of them had the active virus and exposed the other. They just both happened to be unlucky or their lifestyle contributed to developing oral cancer. Since the odds allow for that to happen...it had to happen to someone.
