I am not sure that my tumor was HPV positive, but I strongly suspect that it was since I was single for many years but was not a smoker or drinker. Assuming for a moment that I am HPV positive, does that pose any risk to my wife? Is the vaccine effective in mature women?

Any info. from you HPV aficianados would be appreciated.

Danny G.

And to add to this question....Is Johns Hopkins the only place that is testing blood for this. Or, can we get this done elsewhere or closer to home??

Debandbill --

Check postings by davidcpa, who has been very active on HPV issues in Florida, or send him an e-mail or a private message. If anyone knows, he would. I think he said once that Moffitt was doing HPV testing or was about to, but you should check with him.

And I believe the test is on tumor tissue, not a blood test.

-- Leslie

Yea,
Thought I would do that..I have his email. I think Moffitt takes the test (whatever it is) and sends it to JH cause I know David was fussing about Moffitt (actually the RO's nurse) dragging their (her) feet about getting it to JH.

By the way, where is David?? He hasn't posted in a while!

Thanks Leslie, Deb

Deb: I e-mailed David this week about this very subject, and he promptly responded with indepth answers to my questions regarding HPV, which I really appreciated!

I will e-mail to you my questions to him, as well as his responses, if you wish.

Hi Danny,

If you are or were positive for HPV, your wife has surely already been exposed. Her system probably already cleared it as most people's do. However, the vaccine wouldn't protect her (or be of benefit to her) since she had prior exposure. It only protects those who are unexposed - that is why the vaccine is targeted to young girls. The presumption is that they have not yet been exposed to HPV through sex.

Thanks Lois,

Yes, forward the email please. David was treated at Moffitt...has the same RO that we saw for a second opinion there. Great place...we were very tempted to stay at the ACC Hope Lodge and be treated there but the RO was confident that we could receive comparable treatment here so we stayed home. I still have days that find me wanting to be at a CCC but we will definitely have followup there in a few months. Thanks for the email.

Sorry to hijack this thread folks...please continue answering the OP's questions as I am interested also.

Deb

This is along the same lines: I assume because I had an HPV+ tumor that my fiancee is also infected. This may be a stupid question but does radiation clear the throat/oral area of the virus? Do I need to worry about being reinfected?

My tumor was checked for HPV through my local hosptial. I'm not sure where they sent it. When I called to followup I was told it was HPV positive. It was a few more days before they were able to tell me the "type," which was HPV-33. My family doctors checked my records and she had noted that past pap tests showed I was HPV positive (no specific type identified - only high risk). Not sure why she never mentioned it. She did always schedule me for a yearly physical.

I was not informed of my HPV status by my OBGYN. I would like to think that more ENT's need to be aware of HPV's link to oral cancers. Three years ago when I first presented with this problem (one enlarged tonsil) my ENT could have said "Do you have HPV?", and that tonsil would have been ripped out that day, instead of playing a watch and wait game for a few years. Bottom line--this information needs to get out there in the mainstream. Why just vaccinate young girls against HPV? Obviuosly it infects men, too.