[Question #8063] HPV
49 months ago
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Can HPV be dormant for decades? I am 73 and my wife is 64, and we have been together for 30 years.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
49 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your confidence in our services.
The simple answer to your question is yes: Human papillomavirus infections can continue silently ("dormant") for many years. The immune system often clears HPV entirely, but not always -- and infections sometimes reactivate years later. For example, it is quite common for women with normal Pap smears for many years to then have an abnormal smear due to HPV. This usually is reactivation of a distant past infection, not evidence of a new HPV infection. Over 90% of all sexually active persons acquire HPV, usually during the years of greatest sexual activity, i.e. teens through age 30-35.
If an HPV issue has come up for you or your wife, I would be happy to advise you about it, if you'd like to provide the information. In the meantime, here are two excellent websites with comprehensive information about genital HPV -- one from CDC, the other from ASHA, the sponsor of this forum. If you in fact have a specific issue or concern, I suggest you scan either or both these sites first; you may find the answers you seek.
https://www.ashasexualhealth.org/human_papilloma_virus/
Let me know if you have any questions. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
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49 months ago
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Thanks very much. Your response was very helpful. We both were mystified by learning her latest Pap test showed high-risk HPV after years of clean results. In researching HPV, we saw it also causes genital warts. Neither of us to our knowledge has ever had these. However, is that also a strain that most persons have come into contact with by our ages and, if so, should we anticipate the possibility of it surfacing at some time?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
49 months ago
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Thanks for the information. I'm happy to continue to help.
Different types of HPV cause warts versus cancer and other pap smear abnormalities. Your wife's high risk HPV almost certainly is not a wart-causing type. Delayed appearance of warts is rare, a lot less common than pap smear abnormalities. Neither you nor your wife is likely to ever have genital warts.
---And you and your wife should not be highly worried about her pap smear abnormality. The vast majority of high-risk HPV infections do not lead to cancer -- the increased risk actually is quite small. And progression to cancer will be 100% prevented if she follows her doctor's recommendations about follow-up and perhaps treatment. When all is said and done, this will have been a minor health issue with no long term consequences.