Hello again Dr Hook
Thanks for your generous and really informative response. It really helps put the matter in perspective.
Just two more questions, if that's okay: "Partner number or type (i.e. "risky" or not) has very little impact on the likelihood of infection." - I'm a bit confused by this... I've always assumed that having more recent partners (and partners having had more recent partners) is kinda like buying more tickets for a lottery no-one wants to win?
And is the HPV test a routine part of a pap smear or something that needs to be (and in my GF's case should be) asked for especially?
Thank you so much!
Welcome to our Forum. Let me first say, I think your caring approach to your partner is quite a good thing. I wish all people felt similarly about their partners, the world would be a better place.
As for your concerns about harming her through possible HPV infection, please don't be. For better or worse, at present HPV is a "fact of life" and most people have it or will have it at some point in the future. Despite this fact, only a tiny minority of persons with HPV get the consequences of infection (primarily women and primarily cancer and pre-cancerous lesions). HPV is the most commonly acquired STD. Over 85% of sexually active women will have HPV infection at some time in their lives and interestingly, partner number or type (i.e. "risky" or not) has very little impact on the likelihood of infection. The figure for men is less well studied but similar. In some HPV will cause genital warts, in others it will not cause warts but may lead to changes in PAP smears. In nearly everyone who gets HPV, warts or otherwise, the infections will resolve by themselves without therapy in 8-24 months. Related to your concerns, in a very small minority of women, HPV infection can persist and lead to the pre-cancerous lesions that PAP smears detect and which can then be readily and effectively treated.
Thus, for starters, it is far more likely than not that your GF already has HPV. There are several important things she can do that will essentially guarantee that she will not go on to get cervical cancer from it. These are to take the HPV vaccine, particularly if she is less than 26 years of age, and to follow recommendations for regular PAP smears and gynecologic evaluations. In doing this, neither she, nor you should worry about HPV or consider her to be at high risk for cervical cancer.
I hope these comments are helpful. EWH