I recently took my 10 year old son to the doctor for his yearly exam. They recommended giving him the HPV vaccine. I told the nurse I'd decline at this time. When the doctor came in, he asked why I refused the vaccine. I said " My son is 10! He won't be sexually active for a while! Plus, I haven't done enough research on the risks of it yet. So no, he's not getting it right now." He went on to tell me that people have a lot of misconceptions about HPV and as an example said "if you're at a restaurant, the cook goes to the bathroom, doesn't wash his hands, handles your food, you eat that food with your unwashed hands...you CAN contract HPV and develope warts in your throat and possibly even cancer." I found this VERY hard to believe, and told him so. He said he had an 11 year old patient, that was not sexually active, and had developed warts in his throat and had to have numerous surgeries from contracting it in a similar way. He also said you can get it from a doorknob, just like the germs of the common cold!
IS THIS TRUE!?!?! If that's the case, then why can't you be vaccinated over the age of 26....if it's THAT contagious? I asked him that and he pretty much spoke in circles.
Can any healthcare professionals please answer this for me? I have found NO research to back this up and to my knowledge, HPV is ONLY transmittable through sexual intercourse (of one kind or another).