My girlfriend and i both have hsv-2 and hpv-16(strain 16, high risk).  She had the pap test that discovered the HPV-16 and abnormal cells.  Then they did a colposcopy to see if there were pre-cancerous cells, which came back negative and told to return in 6 months for checkup, so that was good that no cancer now.  She is hesitant to have oral sex.  I would like to understand the risks involved with oral sex, and regular missionary sex for that matter given that we have HPV-16.  If i perform oral sex on her, is there a risk that i get throat cancer?  And if she performs oral sex on me, can she get throat cancer?  And regarding missionary, can i get penile cancer from her HPV from contact with her vagina, and can she get vaginal cancer from contact with my penis.  And how does all this relate to us already having HPV?  I get that we are not transmitting cancer cells, i guess it is more how our body deals with the virus, and fights off the chance of getting cancer.  I do understand that the body's immune system can clear the HPV virus after 6 months to a year, but unfortunately there is no test for a man to know when it is cleared, which i think is unconscionable.  Who decided we don't need a test to make sure a man does not unknowingly pass on a high cancer risk virus  to a woman?  Ridiculous.  I read that HPV is very common in people and the body defends it off, but how real is the risk to get cancer before your body removes it?  Please supply as much information as you can.

Welcome to our forum. Thanks for your questions.  I’ll provide some general information which I hope addresses your questions. In addition, I would encourage you to go to the ASHA website for general information on HPV infection. While much of what is found on the Internet is erroneous and misleading, the information on the ASHA website is reliable and on target.---

thank you for that information.  I am surprised to here how common it is. What is the recommendation about dating someone new? Since i have no way of knowing if/when HPV has gone away, how do i go about dating someone new?  I prefer to be transparent and sharing the information but if i don't have it anymore then it's just raising unneeded concern.  I believe in exchanging recent STD results with a new partner before sex, but this is crazy because i won't know if i have hpv or not.

For better or worse, the majority of sexually active persons have acquired HPV and, like you, will not know whether they have it at the time or not as they enter new relationships.  This topic is discussed extensively in many other threads on this forum which I suggest you take a look at.  We feel that disclosure regarding HPV is not essential.  While we agree with you that for other STI‘s, in the context of new relationships, STI testing and disclosure is advisable and desirable, HPV is the exception. As you point out, with this widespread STI, sometimes raising the topic creates unneeded and unnecessary tensions. One element of discussions about sexual health which is an important element for new relationships however is the topic of HPV vaccination which we recommend for virtually everyone.---