Thank you,

Mary

There has been a lot of publicity about HPV in recent years, including media attention to pharyngeal (throat) cancer. However, cancer remains an uncommon outcome of HPV infections; pharyngeal cancer is especially rare (far less common than all the other cancers like breast, colon, lung, prostate, etc); and HPV infections in general are less dangerous than the media attention might imply. The bottom line is that a sexual relationship with your new partner will not risk you getting HPV any more than sex with anyone else, and definitely will not materially raise your risk of pharyngeal cancer. Here are the reasons:

First, it is not likely your partner still has transmissible HPV either in his oral cavity or genital tract. In other words, the answer to your first two questions is that his virus likely is gone by now.

Second, that your prospective partner was diagnosed with HPV or a complication of it does not raise the risk you will be infected any more than any other potential sex partner. Asymptomatic infections that were not diagnosed are far more common in the general population than HPV infections that actually cause symptoms or health problems.

Third, it is possible you have already had HPV 16 yourself, assuming you and/or he have had average sexual experiences, i.e. several different sex partners in your lives Almost all sexualy sexually active people have or have had HPV, and HPV 16 is among the most common types. If you happen to have had it, you are resistant and probably immune to catching it again.

Fourth and most important, even if he still has it and you were to become infected, the chance it will actually cause cancer, pre-cancer, or any health problem is very low. That HPV (almost certainly type 16, by far the main one that causes throat cancer) caused throat cancer in him does not increase the chance if will do so in you. HPV 16 is one the HPV types most likely to cause cancer, but even with this strain, the vast majority of infections remain entirely asymptomatic and never lead to cancer. To be maximally safe, once you start a relationship it might be reasonable for you to resume having pap smears, even though paps generally are no longer recommended at your age. Discuss with your gynecologist, including her recommendations about timing and frequency of testing.

Finally, you could discuss HPV vaccination with your primary care doctor and/or gynecologist. It isn't normally recommended for people over 26 years old, but the vaccine is harmless and might reduce the chance you would acquire HPV 16, if you haven't yet had it unknowingly. It is partly effective a month after the second vaccine injection, but full protection requires a third dose at 6 months. However, personally I would not recommend vaccination to you or to any of my own patients if they had circumstances like yours. The chance it will actually do any good is very low and the cost is high at around $500, perhaps not covered by insurance because of your age.

So my advice is that if you are attracted to this gentleman and the relationship seems promising from a personal and romantic perspective, I strongly advise you go for it! The chance of any problem related to his presumed HPV infection is very low in contrast to the upsides of a new and promising relationship. At least that's how I see it, and how I would proceed personally if somehow I were in your circumstance.

I hope this has helped. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD