HPV doesn't live in the blood or any other bodily fluids, it lives in the skin/tissue, therefore a blood test will not confirm infection. There are no available tests to confirm infection for men! If you're a man, the ONLY way to "test" to see if you're infected is if you have an actual wart (low risk) to make a diagnosis on. If you're a woman, the only way to test for infection is if your pap comes back abnormal, then the dr will perform what is called a Digene DNA Test, which will confirn HPV infection and identify which strain/s that woman is infected with. If you're infected with a high risk strain, there is absolutely NO way of telling that you're infected because those strains do not produce actual warts, only pre-cancerous cervical cellular changes in women that if left untreated, will progress to cervical cancer! Men are considered to be "carriers" of the high risk strains. The thing that SUCKS about HPV, is that it is virtually impossible to trace it back to someone because it can lie dormant for YEARS without ever showing a sign/symptom of infection & about 80% of the sexually active population is infected and don't even know it!!! Currently, there is NO cure for HPV, only treatments & because it is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, condoms will not always protect you from this either. There are some people out there that are infected w/ HPV & have never had sex! BUT that doesn't mean that one shouldn't use condoms, because they DO protect against other diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Syphyllis, Gonorhea, Hepatitis, etc.
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Originally Posted by avron I've heard that the HPV virus actually lives in your skin therefore a blood test will not work.
The virus' strains are categorized in two categories, low-risk strain and high-risk strain.
The highrisk strain can cause cervical cancer if left untreated unlike the low-risk strain, however both if left untreated can spread and make things look a bit messy.
Anyway, I doubt it can cause any harm if you do not have a visible wart. |