Not true. You can and you should get vaccinated, whether you're male or female, between the ages of nine and 26, regardless of whether you've been sexually active or not. Gardasil vaccinates against four types of HPV - two high risk types that cause 70% of all cervical cancers, and two low risk types that cause 90% of genital warts. And even if you do have one type, it's possible you don't have the other three, so you can and should still get the Gardasil shot.
The myth about only being able to get vaccinated if you're a virgin probably stems from the minimum age that boys and girls can get the vaccine - nine years old. The reason the vaccine is available at nine? To reduce the likelihood that the recipient of the shot has already been exposed to one of the types. It definitely doesn't mean that once you've been sexually active, it's too late. It's just that the sooner you're vaccinated, the better, because the vaccine has the best chance of protecting you against all four strains when the likelihood of having already been exposed is lowest. And parents, don't forget: even though your kids might not be having sex yet, HPV can be transmitted without actual intercourse.
Also related to 'the sooner the better' theory when it comes to this vaccination: The #1 risk factor is lifetime number of partners. And that little factoid is probably why Alan Evans refused to report his number of partners - repeatedly - prior to trial.
This is Post #11 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
12.17.2010
Misconception #10: The HPV test is always run as part of your pap smear.
Nope. You usually have to ask for the HPV test in addition to your pap, unless your pap came back abnormal!
I've heard that some doctors will suggest it without the patient asking, and others don't. Really, I can't think of one good reason not to be tested every time you get a pap smear.
So yes, ladies - in addition to getting your regular paps, you need to ask for the HPV test while you're at your appointment. Make sure you ask the doctor treating you directly. Double check to make sure they actually add the HPV test to your pap, because sometimes they forget.
Update: I recently went to my gyno for a pap smear and for an HPV test. I do it every 6 months. I made it very clear to the doc that I wanted the HPV test included with my pap, and made sure it was understood that that part, in particular, was pretty important to me. And of course, I later found out that the HPV test wasn't added as I'd asked. My doctor is excellent - comes highly recommended and is well-respected in the medical community. But it just goes to show that even if you say exactly what you want, and get assured that all the right boxes have been checked, there's still a chance a mistake will be made. Always follow up and ask specific questions to make sure you got the information you asked for.
This is Post #9 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
I've heard that some doctors will suggest it without the patient asking, and others don't. Really, I can't think of one good reason not to be tested every time you get a pap smear.
So yes, ladies - in addition to getting your regular paps, you need to ask for the HPV test while you're at your appointment. Make sure you ask the doctor treating you directly. Double check to make sure they actually add the HPV test to your pap, because sometimes they forget.
Update: I recently went to my gyno for a pap smear and for an HPV test. I do it every 6 months. I made it very clear to the doc that I wanted the HPV test included with my pap, and made sure it was understood that that part, in particular, was pretty important to me. And of course, I later found out that the HPV test wasn't added as I'd asked. My doctor is excellent - comes highly recommended and is well-respected in the medical community. But it just goes to show that even if you say exactly what you want, and get assured that all the right boxes have been checked, there's still a chance a mistake will be made. Always follow up and ask specific questions to make sure you got the information you asked for.
This is Post #9 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
Misconception #9: I had a normal pap, so that means I don't have HPV.
Not necessarily. A pap smear and the HPV test are two different things. The HPV test is run from the same sample that a pap is, but it's a separate test. The pap smear itself isn't looking for the HPV virus, it's looking for cancer, cell abnormalities, and infections - in other words, it's looking for symptoms - not just of HPV, but of all kinds of problems.
It's entirely possible to have a normal pap (no symptoms in the visible/tested area) and still have HPV. Having a normal pap just means that those particular sample cells looked normal when viewed microscopically. It's also important to remember, a pap won't indicate cancer in , say, your mouth - or anywhere else HPV causes problems - because it's only testing one area of your body. See Part 1, Misconception #1 for a breakdown of where else HPV can affect your body.
On the flip side: having an abnormal pap doesn't always mean you do have HPV, either, which shows why it's important to get tested and to follow up to find out for sure what's going on. Up to 10% of paps showing abnormalities are false positives. Check out this excerpt from an article entitled "Should We Abandon Pap Smear Testing?" by Dr. Richard DeMay:
This is Post #9 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
It's entirely possible to have a normal pap (no symptoms in the visible/tested area) and still have HPV. Having a normal pap just means that those particular sample cells looked normal when viewed microscopically. It's also important to remember, a pap won't indicate cancer in , say, your mouth - or anywhere else HPV causes problems - because it's only testing one area of your body. See Part 1, Misconception #1 for a breakdown of where else HPV can affect your body.
On the flip side: having an abnormal pap doesn't always mean you do have HPV, either, which shows why it's important to get tested and to follow up to find out for sure what's going on. Up to 10% of paps showing abnormalities are false positives. Check out this excerpt from an article entitled "Should We Abandon Pap Smear Testing?" by Dr. Richard DeMay:
"At the individual level, if a healthy woman were screened every 3 years from age 18 through her mid-70s, for a total of 20 Pap smears, and the false-positive rate were 5%, there is an almost 2 in 3 chance (64.2%) that she would experience at least 1 false-positive result.4,6 (If screened every year, for a total of 60 Pap smears, there is approximately a 95% chance of at least 1 false-positive result.)"Hormonal and bacterial changes, yeast infections, recent sexual activity, and other harmless things can cause a pap to be abnormal as well.
This is Post #9 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
Misconception #8: Having a positive HPV test and having symptoms are the same thing.
No. They're. Not.
People make this mistake all the time. Drives me nuts.
Keep 'em separate: the thing that we're looking for (HPV) and the effects that thing can have (symptoms). You can have the thing without seeing the effects. In other words, you can have the virus and not have symptoms. You can even transmit the virus without symptoms. This is why it matters whether you've been exposed, guys and gals. This is why it matters that you ask for the test, gals. The fact that it's present and the fact that it is or is not doing something to your body are two different things.
The moment you're exposed to HPV is simply the time that the virus enters your body. Again, the HPV test looks for the virus, not the symptoms. You don't start showing symptoms immediately, because symptoms take various amounts of time to develop. The virus has to invade your cells, replicate, and take over - which doesn't happen immediately. Some people will show symptoms within weeks or months after exposure (even pre-cancerous lesions can come on really fast, like they did for me), and for others, it can take years.
This is Post #8 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
People make this mistake all the time. Drives me nuts.
Keep 'em separate: the thing that we're looking for (HPV) and the effects that thing can have (symptoms). You can have the thing without seeing the effects. In other words, you can have the virus and not have symptoms. You can even transmit the virus without symptoms. This is why it matters whether you've been exposed, guys and gals. This is why it matters that you ask for the test, gals. The fact that it's present and the fact that it is or is not doing something to your body are two different things.
The moment you're exposed to HPV is simply the time that the virus enters your body. Again, the HPV test looks for the virus, not the symptoms. You don't start showing symptoms immediately, because symptoms take various amounts of time to develop. The virus has to invade your cells, replicate, and take over - which doesn't happen immediately. Some people will show symptoms within weeks or months after exposure (even pre-cancerous lesions can come on really fast, like they did for me), and for others, it can take years.
This is Post #8 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
Misconception #7: I might've been exposed to HPV, but it'll take months/years for me to find out, because I have to wait and see if I get symptoms.
Not true! Women can request the HPV test at any time following exposure and the test is capable of detecting the virus, even if it hasn't had time to invade cells. The test is looking for the virus itself, not cancer, warts, or lesions - so it will indicate the presence of HPV regardless of whose cells (yours or a recent partner's) were grabbed in the sample. The test is also super sensitive, meaning that it'll detect a relatively small number of HPV virions, in chemical terms. The test is so sensitive, in fact, that if you test negative for HPV, your chance of developing a high grade lesion on your cervix in the next three years is close to zero!
And guys and gals, if you think there's a chance you were exposed to HPV, that should be all the warning you need. Please don't ever represent that you're free of the virus if there's a chance that you're not.
This is Post #7 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
And guys and gals, if you think there's a chance you were exposed to HPV, that should be all the warning you need. Please don't ever represent that you're free of the virus if there's a chance that you're not.
This is Post #7 in the series, Debunking HPV Myths. For other parts of the series, click here.
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