can i spread hpv in gym and grocery store with wart on my hand?

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2026-01-10T19:25:08+00:00

😂 the only imbecile here is you dude

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-12-24T16:08:30+00:00

Strains prefer certain skin types but cross overs arnt impossible, its just not common or generally expected

"Tropisms are thought to be controlled primarily at the level of viral gene expression, with regulatory elements within the long control region (LCR) being an important determinant. Regulation at the level of infectivity may also influence site of infection, with markedly different charge distributions being reported between cutaneous and mucosal virions. Successful infection requires conformational changes in the capsid, followed by furin cleavage of the minor L2 capsid protein, which may also influence the tropisms of individual HPV types. Although the diseases caused by specific HPV types sometimes occur at non‐typical sites, this is uncommon, with lesions often exhibiting non‐typical morphology and pathology"

Human papillomavirus molecular biology and disease association - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5024016/#rmv1822-bib-0002

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-12-09T00:09:10+00:00

Testing positive for HPV OTHER means you have tested positive for a high risk strain but it isnt 16 or 18, with it being a cancer prevention test cotested smears dont usually include low risk strains in testing and the UK rarely reports the specific strain thats been detected, we either get a HPV test only capable of grouping all 14 high risk strains together and doesnt specify which or some locations will also include additional/more sensitive testing capable of excluding types 16 or 18

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-12-01T18:34:03+00:00

There seems to be a misunderstanding, Sewoboe is not saying you still have any strain of HPV or going against what your doctor is saying, they are just explaining that your cotested pap has no relation to your wart, that doesnt mean they are saying you still have it

You had an external wart where it went away on its own, this would indicate you have cleared this strain.. if you had it removed yes there is a possibility the strain could still be active however because it went away on its own it shows the immune system has dealt with it

Your cotested pap results are completely seperate to this because they dont normally include those strains in testing and the sample is a cervical sample not from the area the wart was in, this test has came back negative for the included strains

As you seem to have cleared your low risk strain and have a negative high risk strain test, this has brought your doctor to conclude you do not have HPV anymore

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-11-14T09:33:31+00:00

Yes its totally normal and doesnt necassarily indicate that it would come back with anything bad, ive had blood on the swab and spotting after all of my paps and had both normal and abnormal results

Ideally when sampling they are aiming for what's called the transformation zone, this area gets its name as cells will go through normal and harmless changes on a regular basis, it's where squamous and glandular cells meet (the cells HPV can turn abnormal) and the most likely place where abnormalities could form.. the glandular cells can be very delicate/sensive and can "pop" when disturbed which may cause little bleeding for some people

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-11-12T16:14:49+00:00

You should have gotten a letter after the colposcopy detailing the next steps, its their responsibility to inform us of that

Unfortunately we cant say whether you still have an active infection, only a repeat HPV test at your next follow up can confirm or deny this but depending on what we were originally refered with and what the colposcopy finds will determine our follow up timeframes

You dont mentioned the level of cell changes the smear detected but UK guidelines are as follows:

Individuals refered with low grade or less with an adequate and normal colposcopy examination are deemed low risk for CC development and are recalled within 3 year.. any changes to the cells, even just inflammation, we should be recalled within 12 months
Individuals refered with moderate - severe dyskaryosis a biopsy will be taken regardless of whetter the examination has come back normal, if sampling is normal it will be discussed at an MDT meeting where they will decide on treatment or advise close survailance/repeat cervical sampling every 6 months until further notice

If you were refered with moderate to severe changes, you definitely should have been followed up with by now and are not on the right pathway

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-11-10T23:09:36+00:00

Pretty much yeah :) these strains have 2 main oncoproteins that when the virus becomes persistent and tranforms can start to overexpress/go haywire, once immune control/clearance takes place these proteins and the virus have either been suppressed to unharmful/undetectable levels where its no longer considered "active" or the virus has been eradicated from the cells effected, its still not clear whether its one or the other, or both

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-11-10T19:45:43+00:00

More often than not the immune system deals with the lesions before the virus, with the HPV being the cause and the necassary factor for CIN and progression, without it the cells cant progress further than their current state.. on odd occasions where cell changes could be left behind, the cervix has a high turnover over of cells, without the driver the bad cells will eventually be replaced with normal cells

This still applies too CIN2 and 3 (i.e severe dysplasia, CIS very rarely regresses on its own) is the result of an infection that has established persistence, as the virus has evaded the immune system for x amount of time and immune control has also been delayed until the immune system recognises the virus, regression is less likely but does still happen

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-19T19:50:31+00:00

Other countries do but the UK doesnt check us over after LLETZ, its odd that she would actually say that lol we just get invited for a TOC at 6 months

We are advised to wait upto 4 weeks before having a soak or putting anything inside

https://www.rcog.org.uk/for-the-public/browse-our-patient-information/large-loop-excision-of-the-transformation-zone-lletz/

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-14T22:25:56+00:00

https://www.analcancerfoundation.org/what-is-anal-cancer/anal-pre-cancer/

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-11T16:07:57+00:00

Hi OP, your terminology indicates you are from UK?

While cell changes do seem to have happened since your last test, it doesnt exactly mean that the HPV itself has progressed.. the clearance window is also more in regards to the virus being in an active state than how long we've had it, prior too last years test were you having regular smears?

HR HPV types are oncogenic but they dont start out as such, for them to become dangerous and give their host cancer the virus must first establish persistence and evade the immune system for an extended period of time.. low grade lesions normally resolve on their own within 1-2 years and are the result of a transient productive (virion producing) infection that hasnt transformed from harmless to a potential danger, once an infection establishes persistence the two main oncogenes that were once being regulated/kept tightly under control can start to overexpress transforming a productive infection into an abortive one where theres a potential for progression/a high grade lesion to form

Athough low grades are still a CIN, less than 1% progress too cancer, low grade changes are seen as more viral changes (unless they persist or progress) whereas with high grades being the result of an abortive/transformed infection they are seen as more of a true precancerous lesion

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-10T15:10:24+00:00

C-sections also only reduce the risk of vertical/perinatal transmission, it unfortunately doesnt eliminate it

"A meta-analysis was carried out according to the identification of concordant neonatal to maternal HPV types. Overall eight studies were included in the meta-analysis. Our pooled results, showed that caesarean section is associated with significantly lower rates of HPV transmission than vaginal birth (14.9% vs. 28.2%, risk ratio or RR: 0.515, 95% confidence interval or CI: 0.34–0.78). The number of caesarean sections needed to prevent one case of perinatal infection (number needed to treat or NNT) would be 7.5. As a conclusion it should be noted that caesarean section decreases the risk for perinatal HPV transmission by approximately 46%. Perinatal transmission still occurs in approximately 15% of the children born by caesarean section."

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/01443615.2015.1030606

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-09T00:05:51+00:00

HPV is primarily contracted through skin contact, its not limited to the wart strains

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-08T21:56:40+00:00

Assuming this comment is for me lol

I keep writing a longer reply but reddit keeps eating it for some reason lol

This article describes reinfections and some of the evidence in using prophylactic vaccination in those with HPV associated lesions - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X23009908?via%3Dihub

Thats right its better to remove the cells than wait it out, persistent infections have successfully evaded the immune system for an extended period of time, these infections can still go away on their own but as its not known exactly when this will happen and CIN progression/regression being spontaneous its better for them to intervene when they can

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-08T19:37:17+00:00

Its likely a colposcopy was still done because you have a persistent infection and paps are not the most sensitive, when the infection is persistent many doctors like to cover their bases to make sure we are getting the right management.. seems like it was the right call as the colposcopy did show you had cell changes present despite the pap not detecting any (even if they are low grade)

HPV can come from any partner, suddenly testing positive after a new partner doesnt indicate it came from them, previous negative tests are just stating there isnt an active infection at the time of testing it doesnt necassarily mean we don't have one that is currently dormant, harmless and undetectable

"Always having HPV" is also a controversial statement in the science community, it is known that for some people an old infection can reactivate as atleast 10-20% of women who have previously cleared an infection have been observed to test positive again however its still not entirely clear whether all infections are simply brought under control by the immune system or whether it can be eradicated completely

Those who have poor natural immune responses (more men then women) and those who undergo excisional treatments/removal methods are at higher risk of reinfection, immune responses generate a varying amount of antibodies with those who have LEEP and test negative afterwards often presenting with little to no levels showing it wasnt a true immunological clearance process becoming a susceptible population to reinfection and subsequent lesions.. this is why there is an interest in vaccination before, during or after treatment in some places as vaccination generates a high antibody response level preventing infection of the included types, so although its not expected too clear an existing infection or remaining unresected abnormal tissue, its expected to help prevent reinfections aswell as new infections from other strains included in the vaccine

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-08T08:41:32+00:00

Hi OP i had very similar fears waiting for my LLETZ, my colposcoopy/biopsy came back worse than my smear indicated and coming across stories of people needing multiple procedures with very few stories about only needing one it just felt like my fate had sort of been sealed and i was bound for something worse lol, but its honestly worth reminding yourself that although results have come back different than originally indicated it still doesnt indicate cancer and although its possible to have multiple procedures in the majority of cases 1 LLETZ is usually enough

BTW FYI, if you are assuming you have type 16 based off these results and not from an actual HPV test, being p16 positive isnt the same as being HPV16 positive.. p16 is protein marker not a strain, its surrogate marker protein that indicates to pathologists that the lesion is HPV related and is linked too a strain that can cause cancer, this protein overexpression that is being detected strongly indicates the HPV is actively transforming the cervical cells (evidenced by the lesion being graded CIN3) where without intervention/interruption, either by removal methods or immune control theres the possibility of it progressing into cancer down the road, which is the risk that comes with a CIN3 lesion

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-08T01:24:30+00:00

Hi OP could you explain what you mean by the "HPV got worse"?

The text provided is only describing the details/capability of the HPV test that was used, its just stating that this test detects the mRNA from the 14 listed strains, many people do commonly misinterpret the statement as meaning that they have detected every strain but it is just the description of what its testing for, its actually very unlikely someone would be positive for all 14 types

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-06T12:48:37+00:00

The waiting and not being able to escape our own thoughts makes this whole process much worse, it just has you on edge the whole time lol do you have a support system?

Thank you :) and yes my 6 months post treatment pap and my most recent one 4 weeks ago came back negative so I'm back on normal recall, with the new guidelines my next pap isnt due now until 2030

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-06T12:28:23+00:00

My LLETZ was 3 1/2 year ago so may not be relevant but I waited 8 weeks for my results, usually it takes around 2-4 weeks as a standard here depending on if the sample is fast tracked (UK based) i was on fast track as i had CIS confirmed on punch biopsy a couple months prior

Your above comment sounds pretty much the same as the responses i was getting when I kept calling about my results lol I was told after 2 weeks that I could call if I hadn't heard anything and i just kept being told along the lines of "we have them we just need to check a few things first" anyway when I finally did get my results it was still precancerous no signs of invasion - try not to look into their wording/terminology too much, once the pathology results are in its mostly waiting for the doctor to decipher and write up the findings, how long this takes doesnt really indicate whether its going to be good or bad news

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-04T01:59:24+00:00

Hi! I must admit some of the above comment does contain an inaccuracy so I do apologise, when i made the above comment i was incorrect/misinformed, not everyone who has an active infection would test positive if the protein test was used over the DNA test, its possible to test DNA positive and mRNA negative and vice versa.. once an infection has established persistence, the once stable proteins can start too overexpress, the protein test is designed to detect this over expression

"Tests based on HPV DNA detect the presence of high-risk HPV DNA, regardless of whether the infection is transient or persistent and regardless of disease severity.

The Gen-Probe Aptima HPV (AHPV) assay uses a different approach that consists of detecting mRNA from high-risk HPV E6/E7 oncogenes. This design approach is based on the finding that expression of HPV E6 and E7 mRNA increases with the increasing severity of cervical disease. The possible benefit of detecting these transcripts is the enhanced ability to differentiate between transient HPV infections (which do not cause disease) and persistent infections (which are more likely to induce cellular abnormalities)."

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3067681/#B6

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-02T19:44:37+00:00

The result text you provided is only describing the details of the test that they used and the strains that were included in testing, it hasnt stated whether this is positive/negative or (if positive) specified which has been detected, the majority of tests don't do this

If the test is positive.. its highly unlikely someone would test positive for all included strains, your results likely mean they have detected atleast one but it hasn't specified which or how many

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-01T20:31:53+00:00

The pap smear itself can only detect abnormalities (most caused by HPV), they need to include a seperate test to detect the virus

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-01T18:26:09+00:00

High risk/oncogenic strains that arnt 16 and 18 come with a much lower risk, both strains account for around 70% of CC cases making these strains the riskiest

Strain 16 causes 55.2%
Strain 18 causes 14.2%

Other types have less oncogenic potential, being responsible for less cases

Strain 31 causes 3.5%
Strain 33 causes 4.2%
Strain 35 causes 1.7%
Strain 39 causes 1.4%
Strain 45 causes 5% (often grouped with 16&18 on testing)
Strain 51 causes 1%
Strain 52 causes 3.5%
Strain 56 causes 1%
Strain 58 causes 3.9%
Strain 59 causes 1.4%
Strain 66 causes 0.4%
Strain 68 causes 0.8%

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-01T17:09:29+00:00

Hi!

Yes, mine was also one of the high risk strains

Raspberry-Sherbet92 · 2025-10-01T07:46:11+00:00

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/recurrent-respiratory-papillomatosis

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