HPV Test for Men - CDC online - Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Message Board

LAgirl81 · 06-22-2007, 11:54 AM

Hi all,

Ok so I was just reading about HPV on the CDC's website, and I read the following passage under the section entitled "HPV and Men":

"There is no general test for HPV that can tell a man or woman his or her “HPV status”. There is no clear health benefit to knowing if one has the virus—since it usually causes no health problems and goes away on its own."

I'm sorry, but this to me is pretty enfuriating! I'm not sure why the CDC thinks there's no "clear health benefit" to administering an HPV test to all men. Umm cervical cancer, anyone?? Maybe if they had a test for HPV for men they'd probably discover that 99% of the sexually active male population has it. I think if women knew if a man was a carrier for high-risk HPV, well then maybe that would be beneficial to her??? Not to him, of course!

Sorry I'm just pretty embittered by this whole thing as my very first boyfriend gave me my lovely high-risk strain and he was tested for EVERYTHING before we slept together and was clean. And of course, there was no test for HPV so thinking he was 100% clean, we eventually got off condoms and started using BCP. Ugh I'm sorry, but if I knew he was a carrier for high-risk HPV, I would never have stopped using condoms. I know that's not 100% protective against HPV transmission, but it does reduce the transmission risk a bit.

So I have no idea why the CDC would say there's no benefit in developing a test for men. Any of you girls want to share your opinions on this?

k2626 · 06-22-2007, 12:47 PM

That is annoying. Many of us may not be in this situation if men could be tested for HPV!!!!!

FromSqueaky · 06-22-2007, 10:15 PM

Yes HPV sucks but seeing as how it's being treated as if it were just the sniffles among males there really is not anything we can do but use protection or not have sex.

EDIT: So you were digonised with HPV after "only" sleeping with your first boyfriend?

LAgirl81 · 06-22-2007, 11:15 PM

Yeah, sorry I should've been more specific-- I was a virgin and got high risk HPV from my first bf. What luck, huh? That's why the stigma of promiscuity and irresponsibility that are attached to HPV is completely null and void. I was a virgin til 21 and had my bf tested for ALL stds-- since there is no test for HPV, we thought we were all in the clear. Nope! And I'm sure I'm not the only one on this board or in general who got HPV from their first sexual partner.

So this is why it's upsetting that there's no test for men! FromSqueaky, you're absolutely right! Everyone is treating HPV in men as "ohh, nothing can happen to you if you have high-risk anyway, so why worry?" Ummm because if some guy who's a carrier for high-risk HPV sleeps with women and unwittingly infects them with the virus, well that could potentially kill them if these women don't get their yearly check-ups. This virus is so completely gendered and the CDC's reaction is VERY sexist, in my opinion.

Consider for a moment if high-risk HPV posed the same life-threatening potential to men as it does to us women (I know it causes penile and anal cancers but that is rare). If men could develop penile cancer at the rate that women develop cervical cancer, then I bet for damn sure the CDC and other health organizations would start making this a more pertinent and serious issue! If men had to have an equivalent to the LEEP to scrape off bad cells of their penises, well I'm sure we'd be hearing a LOT more about HPV then we do now.

Ugh. It's all so frustrating and very, very gendered. What do you all think?