It is amazing what we know about how the HPV virus does it's thing yet we really can't stop it without a lot of collateral damage. When I first read how HPV attacked my mouth I was shocked to find out the level of known detail and how smart the virus is at surviving. As Brain said our cells have like 2 guards. Guard #1 makes sure the cell has accumulated enough "good stuff" to reproduce another good cell and Guard #2 must get the OK from Guard #1 before he determines that he can give the final OK to reproduce. Now HPV comes along and goes to Guard #1 and says forget your rules and listen to me...I say it's Ok to tell Guard #2 that you are ready to go and then the virus goes to Guard #2 and says regardless of what you think, it's OK to signal reproduction so the cell reproduces without being ready or good enough to do so.

Now that's the children's version.

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.