Herpes, Cold Sores, and Pre Cervical Cancer

[pinkyloveiv]

I'm prompted by 2 different incidences to write this and ask questions.

We play (soft swap) exclusively with one other couple. We had a hot, hot, hot night with the next day followed by the other wife taking a trip to the ER. Overnight she broke out in a Horrible case of cold sores. All over her face and down her throat.
Everything is all cleared up now (it's been 6-8 weeks or so) but I worry that she might have passed something to her hubby. Thought I heard somewhere that he could get genital warts. Anyway, what kind of risk are my husband and I at?

Second incident: We recently met another couple who seemed really nice. However as she was running through all of her health problems, she mentioned that she had pre cervical cancer. I was wondering if that is caused by the herpes virus. When mentioning all of her problems, she never said anything about Herpes.

[good times]

Sounds to me like she had an allergic reaction to something, if you used condoms she may have a latex allergy.

No, Herpes (HSV) does not cause warts. Some strains of HPV cause warts, but HPV is not Herpes.

Never heard of a link between Herpes and cancer. Certain strains of HPV, on the other hand, have been shown to present a greater risk for cervical cancer. However, just because someone had cervical cancer does not mean they had HPV.

[Reef99]

What is "pre" cervical cancer? Sounds like HPV, which is not cancer by any means. However, as stated above, it can lead to cancer.

[PBJ]

I am 99% certain that cervical cancer is always caused by HPV. In other words, you don't get it unless you have contracted HPV at some point in your life. However, HPV does not always develop into cervical cancer. I think it only develops into cancer or a precancerous condition for about 5-10% of people who contract it.

If a person has had a precancerous condition, it means that the condition developed beyond minor abnormal changes, but had not progressed to cancer yet. The person undoubtedly would have developed cancer without treatment to remove the precancerous cells.

I have not seen anything that says someone who develops cervical cancer or a cervical precancerous condition is more or less likely to transmit HPV than someone who does not develop any problems from HPV.

[good times]

Originally Posted by PBJ

I am 99% certain that cervical cancer is always caused by HPV. In other words, you don't get it unless you have contracted HPV at some point in your life.

I am curious to know what gives you that opinion, as I have read all of the information and studies I could find on the links between HPV and cervical cancer and don't recall having seen this assertion made by any reputable study.

[PBJ]

I have gotten information on cervical cancer and HPV from the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov), the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org), and Merck's Gardisil website (www.gardisil.com). All concur that that cervix cancer is caused by HPV. HPV types 16 & 18 alone are responsible for 70% of cases. There are 12 other types known to cause cervical cancer. (None of those types cause warts.) No other causes are listed. I have also read isolated studies (such as, http://www.jci.org/cgi/content/abstract/116/5/1167) that state HPV is responsible for virtually all cases of HPV.

Anyway, that's why I made the statement I made.

[good times]

I see, I have seen that statement before but it isn't supported by the research. While it is true that the majority of women with cervical cancer had one of the strains of HPV that is suspected of causing the cervical cancer, HPV was actually found in less than 80% of cervical cancer cases. So while the statement that the majority of the cases of cervical cancer patients have HPV would be accurate, saying that cervical cancer is always caused by HPV is not supported by the research, nor has any researcher in the field, that I know of, ever made that claim. In fact, while most researchers cite HPV as the number one risk factor, they all are quick to make clear that they really don't know what causes cervical cancer.

[tribbles]

Originally Posted by good times

I see, I have seen that statement before but it isn't supported by the research. While it is true that the majority of women with cervical cancer had one of the strains of HPV that is suspected of causing the cervical cancer, HPV was actually found in less than 80% of cervical cancer cases. So while the statement that the majority of the cases of cervical cancer patients have HPV would be accurate, saying that cervical cancer is always caused by HPV is not supported by the research, nor has any researcher in the field, that I know of, ever made that claim. In fact, while most researchers cite HPV as the number one risk factor, they all are quick to make clear that they really don't know what causes cervical cancer.

Do we know what causes the other 20%?

I wonder if it's mostly that we can't find the HPV but suspect it?

[PBJ]

I've not seen that 80% statistic before. However, it could be that the tests gave false negatives or that the body had cleared the virus to non detectable levels. It's interesting to me that there isn't much speculation out there as to what other causes there might be. Even if science can't say with 100% certainty, at least science can conclude there's a very high likelihood that HPV is the only cause of cervical cancer.

[good times]

I think it is more that they really don't know what causes cancers. Take lung cancer as an example. If you just see all of the propaganda you would believe that lung cancer is caused by smoking, yet around 60% of lung cancer patients are people who are non-smokers. I am one of those weird people that actually enjoys reading research papers, and I have read a bundle of them over the years. The only conclusion I have come to is that, regarding medical problems like cancer, very little definitive conclusions have been formulated despite all the studies and research that has been done.

[good times]

Originally Posted by PBJ

I've not seen that 80% statistic before. However, it could be that the tests gave false negatives or that the body had cleared the virus to non detectable levels. It's interesting to me that there isn't much speculation out there as to what other causes there might be. Even if science can't say with 100% certainty, at least science can conclude there's a very high likelihood that HPV is the only cause of cervical cancer.

Go read the studies, no such conclusion has been made. In fact their are several other risk factors independent of having HPV, including, Sexual History, tobacco use, eating habits, weakened immune system, hormonal medications, chemical exposure, douching, and women who's mothers took Diethylstilberstrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage.