Cervical Dysplasia

Good Evening,
My Girlfriend was diagnosed with having hpv type 16.  From her PaP they found Mild Dysplasia on the top of her cervix and have elected to leave her alone and have a re-examination in 6 months.  However I had a few questions that I hope you can answer for me.  

1-Does this type of HPV cause warts or just atypical Cells?  No visible warts were found on her.

2-We have never had unprotected sex and I was wondering what my chances are for contracting this type of HPV if condoms are used 100% of the time.

3- Can HPV 16 be transferred to the mouth from the genitals?  If so how common is this?

4- I had a condom break a few weeks ago during sex and didnt realize for a few seconds.  the condom rolled half way down my penis head when I noticed.  There was only skin to skin contact for 10 seconds tops.  Can the disease transfer that quickly or does there have to be constant rubbing on the abnormal cells?

5- I have read that eventually the body can fight off the virus and and can not be transferred to a partner.  Is this true?  How long does the process take in a healthy female?


Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.  I just feel as if it is my responsibilty to find out as much as I can about HPV.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Read the HPV/warts article in the link at the top of the STD Forum ("STD Quick Facts and Articles"); and also look at numerous other threads with essentially the same questions.  Other excellent sources are the CDC's STD information site (www.cdc.gov/std) and the American Socal Health Association (www.ashastd.org).

You very likely already are infected with HPV-16; if you have a partner with the virus, it is very difficult to avoid.  Consistent and correct condom use lowers the risk, but not to zero; with multiple exposures, transmission still should be expected. Indeed, it is possible she caught the virus from you.  Getting HPV, including a "high risk" type like HPV-16, is normal; not desirable, but to be expected by most sexually active persons.  See the aforementioned article and message threads for more details.  To answer your specific questions:

1) HPV-16 rarely causes warts, only asymptomatic infections of the sort your girlfriend has.

2) I can't give you a numerical risk.  But if you have had sex more than a few times, I would guess there is at least a 50% chance you have infected.

3) Asymptomatic oral infection may occur; to my knowledge, this has never been studied.  But HPV-16 rarely if ever causes symptoms or leads to oral disease of any kind.

4) HPV probably has to be massaged into the skin.  But a single episode of condom breakage won't make a signficant difference in the likelihood you have been infected.

5) Yes, the natural course of all HPV infections is that the body's immune system eventually results in regression.  It takes an average of about 11 months for HPV-16.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[SunnyTriangle]

Read that HPV FAQ that was submitted here a couple of months ago, it has a lot of nice information the other one (link above) doesn't talk about, bye! :)