I intend to follow this discussion closely, since I, like so many, can not pinpoint a cause for my SCC. I have a question....(this is a place where we can ask what we need to know, isn't it, without worrying about proprieties??): I went to the gynecologist yesterday for a routine annual exam. I asked him to check for HPV, and he said that was what a PAP was.....and when I said that I wanted to be tested for HPV-16 specifically, the nurse said that they had gotten a paper recently telling them that they had to do a second collection for that test.

Is a vaginal sampling an adequate test for HPV that might relate to my oral cancer? Or do I need a blood test?

Another question: Several posters have mentioned that most people have HPV at some point. I thought that it was an STD. I would have no way of contracting an STD, and I wonder how so many people have evidence of it in their systems.

I would love to be part of such a study. I can see that I would need to live close to the major medical center where the study was taking place, since so many visits and tests and treatments are required. I do not live near such a place. Darn.