Can you get HPV from your partner after it has already turned into cervical cancer?
My friend is a lesbian and her girlfriend has HPV but it already turned into cervical cancer and they had sex. My friend says once HPV turns into cancer it can’t be spread. Is this true? I still think she should go get checked just to be on the safe side.
Tags: After, Already, Cancer, Cervical, From, Into, Partner, turned
August 29th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
There is no way to know whether HPV is still contagious when it’s progressed to cancer.
That being said, it is actually impossible for ANYONE to tell whether they are contagious for HPV.
****************************
The way viruses work is that the viral DNA combines with the host’s cells DNA (or RNA) and integrates into the cell. A woman who has cervical cancer definitely has a lot of active HPV DNA in her cells, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s shedding the virus. That’s why I say it’s impossible to know whether she’s contagious.
We actually do know that this happens in women with cervical cancer because PCR analysis for HPV results in negative HPV tests in some women with cervical cancer. PCR testing does not pick up DNA that is integrated into the cell. The fact that we know these negative HPV tests happen in women with cancer (especially advanced cervical cancer) is what led me to say that no, we don’t know whether this woman is contagious.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Lily is correct there is no way to know 100% when we are contagious…or not contagious.
When the virus is active we are most contagious. The virus progression is very active during cervical cancer…so she is still contagious.
Yes, defiantly your friend should have routine Pap testing as advised by her doctor. Her body may control the virus…but you do not know if the virus will progress…routine Pap testing is just as necessary for her as it is for every woman.
******
Even with negative DNA HPV testing the virus can be transmitted. The virus may not trigger an HPV test when the cancer is advanced but the virus is still in the shedding DNA. HPV DNA is found in virtually all (99.7%) cervical cancers.
August 29th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
HPV is a virus that replicates within the cells of the body. HPV causes cancer by changing the DNA of the cells. Cancer occurs when the damaged cells start replicating uncontrollably.
HPV never goes away. It stays in the body. There is a vaccine that can prevent HPV, but it must be administered to girls before they start having sex. The vaccine builds immunity and prevents HPV from becoming established in the body.