HPV 16/18

[mkfl]

Hello,
I am 32 years old, and just received a normal pap smear, but a positive result for HPV 16/18.  I am freaking out, and hoping to get some rational information to ease my nerves.  What are the odds of this giving me problems? My doctor told me that I just need to come back for a pap next year and to try not to worry.  Is it possible for the virus to eradicate, or will I have this for the rest of my life?  Of course, with Michael Douglas in the news, this got me a bit worried too.  

I have pretty healthy habits -- don't smoke, don't drink much, I work out -- this just sort of crushed me today.  

Thanks for your help and your service on this site.  

[mkfl]

Thank you so much for your thorough response, and the link to further information.  I really appreciate it.  As a follow-up, I took a look today at my pap smear/HPV test paper work (I requested a copy to take home), and it actually says that I tested NEGATIVE for HPV 16/18, and positive for "other" HPV high risk DNA.  Regardless, I will do a follow-up pap in one year as per the doctor's orders.  I suppose this news doesn't change your response to me either, but I thought I'd update anyways.

In an odd sense, this reassured me, only because I had the Gardisil vaccine about five years ago, which protects against the 16/18 strands.  It made me concerned that perhaps I had been carrying the 16/18 strands for many years before being vaccinated (the vaccine came out when I was about 25-- so I received it after already being sexually active), since this was my first time getting HPV testing.  It helps me to feel a bit more hopeful that this will be transient.

Thanks again for your help -- it is so appreciated.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the forum.  Thanks for your question and for your kind comment about our services.

I agree exactly with your doctor:  no need for worry, as long as you follow his or her advice about repeat pap smears and perhaps HPV tests in the future.  With a normal pap smear, a positive test for HPV of any type -- including a high risk type like HPV-16 or 18 -- is not cause for alarm.  This test result increases the risk of cancer or future pre-cancerous changes in your cervix, but most such infections clear up on their own and never lead to cancer.  And progression to cancer typically takes several years; if and when a pap smear becomes abnormal, there will still be plenty of time for effective treatment to prevent a serious outcome.

And most HPV infections clear up on their own.  Most likely future HPV tests  will be negative, indicating your immune system has cleared the infection.

And don't let the Michael Douglas business bother you.  His cancer is oral, not genital.  And in any case, awareness of any particular case of a serious outcome of HPV doesn't change your risk of such an outcome.  Your situation is similar to that of thousands and thousands of women every year -- perhaps a million of you in the US alone.  Almost none of them will have any serious health problem from their genital HPV infections.

Take a look at the thread linked below for more information about genital HPV infection, then let me know if there is still anything you don't understand.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HPV-Transmission/show/1522088

Best wishes--  HHH, MD