Thank you once again, I love nothing more than detailed explanations.

I still have follow up questions and a few that I have thought about, but have not researched:

0-A.) To confirm the following:

> So other collection ideas were tried like gargling in the back of your throat with saline, but again while it dislodged some cells, who knows from where any suspicious cell came from. Add to that oropharynx cancers in the tonsil for instance, are within the tonsil not on the surface, so not visible, or collectible,or in the tonsilar crypts which are folds of tissues and again nothing early in there is easily accessible or visible.
From all this you can see that not being visible, and not being sampled easily is the problem with early discovery outside the cervix.


If oral HPV is so hard to detect and all the superficial easy methods are a failure, does this allude that the transfer from oral to vaginal or penile (it seems like oral to vaginal is harder than penile due to the penis physically reaching the depths of mouth much "riskier" compared to only the saliva and the tongue of the mouth when oral is done on a vagina) is also much much harder and rarer than anything else?

0-B.) To follow up on this I read on the website:

> More males than females will develop oropharyngeal cancers. This understanding was elucidated and the reason revealed for it in a published study by Gillison et. al. Through conventional genital sex, females acquire infection early in their sexual experiences, and rapidly within very few partners, seroconvert that infection into a systemic antibody that protects them through life. Males take a far greater number of sexual partners to seroconvert an infection into a systemic protective antibody. This increased number of partners and exposure before the development of a protective antibody against the invading virus is most likely the reason that more males will later in life develop oropharyngeal cancers than females.

This is something we have touched on, though it is different here it seems. The process of seroconversion is going from infected, to having antibodies I assume, googling says from infected to having antibodies that an infection can be detected. It says that males take a far greater number of sexual partners to seroconvert the infection into systemic protective antibody, but why? Are they slower to build an immune response? I am really not understanding this, here we are saying that if a woman is exposed only to genital sex(?), because they are faster in building systemic protection, by the time they are exposed to oral sex and oral HPV, they already have the systemic protection? But in real life isn't it much more common for females to be exposed to oral sex before genital sex and much more commonly then men? There are a lot of studies published by Maura Gillison, so I could not find this specific one where it explains the issue, but I do not understand this abstract/conclusion paragraph. frown

0-C.) Something that I am heavily confused of, some studies that I have read say that transfer of high-risk HPV is like 20% in 6 months of couples having sex on regular basis, how come do we so easily assume that everyone has HPV past a few sexual partners, even if those were one-offs? By this statistic not many people under 25 should have HPV, because it is hard to get, and it takes time for exposure?

1.) I understand what you mean when you say that HPV has no lesions, everything you see, for example on the cervix, is a pre-cancer most of the time caused by HPV. Now I know that the PAP test has different grades and then the biopsy has CIN grading. Let's say one does a mRNA/DNA swab on the cervix, they find a presence of the virus, but the PAP is totally clear, does this mean that this person can infect others, but is immune to. Or it does not work like that? I have a friend who for at least 3 years had the ACSUS status, before that she was clear - but it was 4 years before these, since that clear PAP to the one that is not, she was with 1 partner in a monogamous relationship. Now has been constantly on the ASCUS status, and newly single and still very young she is always concerned if she needs to declare this to people she has sex with, even though she always uses a condom, she is not sure what to do with the status - if she has a robust immune system that does not let the disease progress, why does the cell changes not go away? Her doctor just keeps saying to go on regular 6 months check ups, but it is always status quo.

2.) When you explained systemic vs non-systemic, I kinda realized that you will always get the virus, with the vaccine, you will just clear it, but does this also mean that in the mean time you can spread it to people having sex with if they are not vaccinated or have not been previously exposed to the variant, then you can transfer them the virus?

3.) I see tracking studies done and it seems like the protection lasts, now I am not sure which antibody test exactly was done, but do you recommend re-testing on a decade basis, or even taking a booster shot? This is a question I wondered, let's say the ultimate Gardasil for the following decade is Gardasil 16 (All high risk + warts), can I take it and be protected, I have not read literature on this issue, people boosting from Gardasli 4 to Gardasil 9 or any combination of it, so I wondered, also why do adults need 3 doses and kids 1, does it have to do with a more robust immunoresponse in children?

4.) Also this week I am getting a booster shot of COVID, Pfizer more specifically, so do I need to wait or not? I read that the shot can be given with other vaccines, but not some like the pneumococcal vaccine, now Pfizer is mRNA and the pneumococcal vaccine is conjugate vaccine, according to hhs.gov, it groups recombinant vaccines (HPV) with the pneumococcal vaccines. So does this mean that the I should also delay my immunization due to my pfizer booster or the vice versa?

5.) For me personally I am a male that most likely have gotten penile HPV, I am about to vaccinate myself this month because I just now at 26 realized that this is possible, but I might not have gotten oral HPV, because I had a limited experience with it, but I have deep-kissed a few people, but this is also debated, it seems like it is possible, but again to isolate variable as this one is a bit hard I imagine, though it only makes sense that this transfer is very possible.
So I am curious to know what else I can do to protect myself from this, you can link me any material, but if I can do 80/20% study on this, would be awesome. Of course I will vaccinate myself, but sadly the system failed us and even though I am young I might be be a bit late to that, but also I might not. So anything that you hoped to know, but you did not, something that everyone should but does not, like I just learned the other day about the over under cable wrapping method and I also recently learned that measuring a blood marker like ApoB over LDL-C is much preferred, but no clinician does it, though the guidelines do. Also measuring Lp(a) at least once, will give you an indicator of your genetic atherosclerotic risk and a marker that still does not exist, but one for a family of lipoproteins ApoC3 would be also really useful in the future. I know these stuff because family members have notorious cardiovascular issues, so I read a bit on the topic. I am in awe how I never knew about HPV, although it is not statistically as important as other issues, it is something totally preventable by a simple shot in your youth, a problem basically fixed 15 years ago, but my memory until recently was that HPV vaccine is something that no girls even took because there were some issues with it, then I added 2+2 and it is 2022 realizing that that was bullshit! Once again, I am curious about anything when it comes to sexual health at this point.

6.) What are the best methods for screening, if the gargling methods and swabbing are not available, and if visible changes are late stage, what is something that everyone should do, but does not know, something like the ABCDE of Melanoma, or testicular cancer. Once again, any simple material, blogs, pocket guidelines would be greatly appreciate it over studies, but anything is fine. I browsed the web now and I have not read, but would: https://oralcancerfoundation.org/screening/ conclude everything mentioned in this question?

7.) This is mind baffling to me, why is it always mentioned that condoms do not protect against HPV, when studies do show reduction, in the case of HPV warts, I understand that these are more transmissable and outside the vagina or the penis glans. However why is condom usage in a way condemned against protection of the high-risk types fully? If you use a condom and wash yourself without touching your penis to the other parts exposed, or even better for women, there is no other fluids from the male partner, if he only has HPV-16, how does condom not protect fully in that case?

I am trying to be as responsible as I can be towards this sexual infection/disease, so any suggestions or pro-tips in this sphere I would wholeheartedly appreciate and immediately adapt!

Last edited by cocoamber; 01-12-2022 10:32 AM.