Hello

I have always had protected sex with women with no risky behaviors.  I gave cunnilingus once 15 years ago to a low risk girlfriend.  Assuming I somehow acquired genital HPV 16, is it possible for me to have given myself oral HPV by touching my genitals (from urinating or otherwise and not washing my hands) and unknowingly/unconsciously putting my hands in my mouth?   I have a very minor unilateral sore throat for 1 week.  I am a hypochondriac and am fearful that I may have oropharyngeal cancer.  If I am worried for nothing, I need to know.  If I should make an appointment with ENT, I will do so.

Many thanks.

Welcome to our Forum and thanks for your questions.  I'll be happy to comment and, hopefully, to eliminate any concerns you might have about HPV autoinoculation.  FYI, I happened to be on the site when your questions arrived so you are getting this reply far more quickly than is usual.  Any follow-ups will also take longer to be addressed.

I think you are over reacting,  Here are the facts:

1. You do not know that you have HPV.  In fact it is unlikely that you do.

     A.  You do not know that your partner had HPV

     B.  Most single exposures to STI, including HPV infected partners do not lead to transmission of infection

     C. HPV does not infected the oral cavity as easily as it does genital sites.  That is the reason that oral HPV infections are much less common than genital infection

     D.  If you had acquired oral infection, as for genital infections, these infections typically clear without treatment over a period of months following infection

2.  HPV, like other STIs is not transferred from person to per or in and individual from one location to another on person's hands.  If that were the case, people would have HPV everywhere.  The data are clear- STI, including HPV, transmission virtually never occurs through transfer of infection on a person's hands

3.  HPV infections of the throat are typically asymptomatic. It is far, far more likely you simply have the sort of every day, self-limited viral sore throats' most of us get from time to time.  

I think you are worrying needlessly.  If your sore throat persists for another week, I'd suggest seeing your regular doctor.  I doubt that there is any reason to see an ENT at this time.  EWH

Thank you for your well though out and rapid reply.  Regarding your second outlined point, I saw Dr. Handsfield had made some very short references to autoinoculation as a means of transmission of HPV in 1 or 2 of his replies to other clients, which surprised me.   Seemed to be inconsistent with other  replies you have each made about the improbability of HPV transmission via hands, so I felt confused.  Also, this peer reviewed article  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10078185/   (see item 2.1) references autoinoculation even if it  does not seem to indicate that this is a major form of transmission

In any event, you are very kind to be so patient with my overreaction.  Even if the fast reply was fortuitous, I am no less grateful.

When considered in the context of all of the other factors that I mentioned above, I urge you to put your concerns aside. EW.