HPV Concern ... Please help

[Pomme]

Dear Doctor,

I’m 33 year old female from Thailand. I have to say sorry first if my English is not good enough. I am very concern about HPV in my situation. Please help.

1. I have known that it is only a few minutes for HIV from your response in HIV Forum but nobody confirmed for HPV. Most people say HPV cannot live long outside the body but they do not give approx. time in minutes or in hours.

1.1 How long can HPV live outside the body ? (minutes / hours)

1.2 I have found a research said that HPV-16 had resistance to desiccation in cell extracts, retaining approximately 100%, 50%, and 30% of infectivity when dehydrated for 1, 3, and 7 days, respectively, at room temperature. Is this true ?

2. A week ago, I used public restroom and some toilet paper stuck in my vagina. I tried to put it out but I cannot. Until now, I did not see anything come out and I wonder if it still there in my vagina. My question is :

2.1 Am I at risk for HPV infection from toilet paper stuck in my  
vagina for a week ? (If toilet paper contaminated with HPV by someone infected.)

2.2 Can HPV transmission by contact with pubic hair or scab from someone  with an hpv infection/wart?

3. I have already received the 2nd shot of Cervarix HPV Vaccine on 17 Dec 2010. Is the vaccine effective after the 2nd shot ? How much does the immune response to HPV after the 2nd shot for only a week ?  (in percentage).

Thanks for the Forum.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

There is no information that whether or not skin surfaces are wet is important for transmission of HPV.  I think it is unlikely, just direct contact.  EWH

[Pomme]

Please accept my apology, I did not intend to make an argument. I just want to confirmed my understand about the infection.

One last question please, so this will end this thread.

What about HPV transmission by contact with vaginal secretion, menstrual blood and semen that STILL WET ?

Many thanks for your kindness.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

This site is designed to address specific  questions in a limited amount of space.  Further, your questions are argumentative.  You can believe my answers or not but this is not a debate.  We'll address these quesions but then the thread should end.

1.  Your information is not based on wcientific data.  HOV cannot be grown readily so that the only way to detect it is with DNA detection.  DNA is not alive. Thus one cannot say for sure how long HPV lives outside of the body.  

2.  See my original answer and comment. This is a silly question.

3.  It simply is not seen.  

4.  See comments above.  DNA cannot "infect" someone.

5.  Yes, you can conclude that.

6.  No

7.  In theory this might happen but it would be unusual.

This will end this thread.  EWH

[Pomme]

Merry X'Mas and thanks for your prompt respone.

More questions, please confirmed my understand by items:

1. Refer to the research that I have found, does it mean that HPV-16 can live outside body more than 7 days ? I do not understand the word "retaining approximately ... % of infectivity". Does it mean the virus is dead or not ?

2. If we do not know exactly time, could you please provide the longest time to make sure that HPV becoming dead virus definitely ? Can it survive  outside the body for a day or just a few hours ?

3. If we do not sure for how long HPV survives outside the body, why we should not worry about transmission by contact with non-living object ?

4. Positive HPV DNA test does not mean that it still alive but what about the virus ability to infected ? If DNA remains stable, does it mean that the virus still have ability to infected ?

5. May I conclude that contact with contaminated non-living object such as pubic hair, scab, vaginal secretion, semen or smegma then touching myself cannot make me infected from HPV ?

6. What about hand-genital contact, if I touch his infected genital area and then touch myself ?

7. Can shared sex toy without washing before cause HPV transmission ?

Thanks again for your information.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I'll try to address your concerns.  

Your worries appear to be related to the possibility that you might have gotten HPV from contact with previously used toilet paper.  This is very, very unlikely to occur, particularly if the toilet paper is dry and has been exposed to air for some time.  Little is known about just how long HPV survives outside that body. The reason for this is because HPV is detected by testing for HPV DNA which may be present even if the virus is dead (the DNA remains stable from dead organisms for years, thus a positive DNA test cannot distinguish whether or not it is from a live virus or a dead virus or virus fragment).  I would not worry about toilet paper transmission whoever. HPV is transmitted by direct contact with an infected person, not on toilet paper or other non-living objects.  

With regard to your question about the vaccine.  After the second injection most women are protected from infection.  The 3rd inject results in a small proportion of women who did not yet have antibodies developing them and helps to make sure that the vaccine effect will last longer.

I hope these comments clarify things.  If not, please ask a follow-up question below. EWH