Last Updated on July 29, 2021 by Stacy Sampson, DO
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
The STI Project’s next interview deals with HPV or the human papillomavirus and will be a two part story – part one from the individual herself and part two from the person who loves her (his HPV submission).
Thank you, both , for triumphantly sharing your story….
1. How old are you?
28 years old
2. What do you do for a living?
I work as a customer service rep at a local company.
3. What STI do you have/have you had?
I was diagnosed with HPV in December of 2010.
4. How long have you had or known you have an STI?
I found out in November, but didn’t garnish the courage to sit down and have testing to know 100% certain until the following month.
5. Do you know how you contracted this STI/STD?
My then fiancé had a second fiancé. When she advised me of their relationship, she also disclosed she currently had cervical cancer that was a result of HPV.
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6. How has your life changed since you contracted an STI?
At first, I experienced a ton of shame.
How this could happen to me, the church going, engaged girl… After that, it was going through testing, which happened after a month of counseling for courage garnishing. I received a dose of antibiotics and a vaccine that is supposed to help prevent the HPV from becoming a cancer issue.
7. Do the people who know you have an STI treat you differently than they treated you before they knew?
There are very few people I ever confided with about this. I met someone 6 months after leaving my ex, and I told him.
I don’t share much; at the same time, it’s not something to be ashamed of. I’ve come to terms in the last few years that it isn’t something that defines me, much like an ailment, I didn’t choose to have it in my life, but it doesn’t make me a good or a bad person.
8. Are you currently under treatment for your STI? If so, please share whether you have explored prescription medication, over-the-counter medication, or holistic and natural approaches.
No, I have testing every 6 months for cervical cancer, because I come from a high-risk family for cancer period.
9. Has having an STI hindered past relationships?
Definitely not, my husband is a big part of accepting myself and this…as not being something shame related.
10. Do you have a significant other? If so, how has this STI affected your partner?
Yes; I am married, to someone other than who gave me the STI/STD.
I told him about it before we even began dating, he was well aware of it and wasn’t in the least worried.
11. Have you been sexually active with someone since contracting an STI whom you did not tell you had an STD?
No.
While men are not affected by HPV, generally, it is something they can pass to other woman, I never wanted someone else to be blindsided the way I was.
12. How have you changed as a result of contracting an STI?
I’ve never been a judgmental person; I think it has helped me to be more accepting of things I cannot control in life.
It helped me come to terms with the fact that I cannot fix and change the past, I can only give my best today.
13. Why are you choosing to participate in this interview and/or is there anything else you would like to share with The STI Project?
I feel like there is a large boulder placed on anyone with an STI/STD.
It’s a joke in high schools, work places, and TV.
Part of the reason many people don’t share is because we are worried someone will judge us, which… isn’t fair, in the least.
This wasn’t because I was young and dumb, it was because I was in love and unsuspecting and can tell you, STIs don’t choose who they effect. You can be rich, poor, think you only have one partner, or be swinging from the lamp shades with others. It’s not a selection process.
I think that the world needs to come to terms with that – no one wants to have health issues or be looked at differently.
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- HPV – Resources, Info, and Personal Experiences
- Want to read more STI Interviews?
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- Looking for STI/STD Resources?
- STIs and Relationships
References
- Symptoms
- Carpén, Timo, et al. “Presenting symptoms and clinical findings in HPV-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer patients.” Acta oto-laryngologica 138.5 (2018): 513-518.
- Suzuki, Sadao, and Akihiro Hosono. “No association between HPV vaccine and reported post-vaccination symptoms in Japanese young women: results of the Nagoya study.” Papillomavirus Research 5 (2018): 96-103.
- Nadarzynski, Tom, et al. “Perceptions of HPV and attitudes towards HPV vaccination amongst men who have sex with men: A qualitative analysis.” British journal of health psychology 22.2 (2017): 345-361.
- Martínez-Lavín, Manuel, Laura-Aline Martínez-Martínez, and Paola Reyes-Loyola. “HPV vaccination syndrome. A questionnaire-based study.” Clinical rheumatology 34.11 (2015): 1981-1983.
- León-Maldonado, Leith, et al. “Perceptions and experiences of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and testing among low-income Mexican women.” PloS one 11.5 (2016): e0153367.
- Testing
- Koliopoulos, George, et al. “Cytology versus HPV testing for cervical cancer screening in the general population.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 8 (2017).
- Ogilvie, Gina Suzanne, et al. “Effect of screening with primary cervical HPV testing vs cytology testing on high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia at 48 months: the HPV FOCAL randomized clinical trial.” Jama 320.1 (2018): 43-52.
- Goodman, Annekathryn. “HPV testing as a screen for cervical cancer.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 350 (2015): h2372.
- Kuhn, Louise, and Lynette Denny. “The time is now to implement HPV testing for primary screening in low resource settings.” Preventive medicine 98 (2017): 42-44.
- Bishop, Justin A., et al. “HPV-related squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: an update on testing in routine pathology practice.” Seminars in diagnostic pathology. Vol. 32. No. 5. WB Saunders, 2015.
- Treatment
- Quake, Stephen R., and Jianbin Wang. “Compositions and methods for cell targeted hpv treatment.” U.S. Patent Application No. 15/166,936.
- Mirghani, H., et al. “Treatment de‐escalation in HPV‐positive oropharyngeal carcinoma: ongoing trials, critical issues and perspectives.” International journal of cancer 136.7 (2015): 1494-1503.
- Wang, Marilene B., et al. “HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinoma: a systematic review of treatment and prognosis.” Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery 153.5 (2015): 758-769.
- Stich, Maximilian, et al. “5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (DAC) treatment downregulates the HPV E6 and E7 oncogene expression and blocks neoplastic growth of HPV-associated cancer cells.” Oncotarget 8.32 (2017): 52104.
- Hildesheim, Allan, et al. “Impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 and 18 vaccination on prevalent infections and rates of cervical lesions after excisional treatment.” American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 215.2 (2016): 212-e1.
- Prevention
- Grandahl, Maria, et al. “School-based intervention for the prevention of HPV among adolescents: a cluster randomised controlled study.” BMJ open 6.1 (2016): e009875.
- Stanley, Margaret, and Mario Poljak. “Prospects for the new HPV Prevention and Control Board.” Papillomavirus Research 3 (2017): 97.
- Bosch, F. Xavier, et al. “HPV-FASTER: broadening the scope for prevention of HPV-related cancer.” Nature reviews Clinical oncology 13.2 (2016): 119.
- Dilley, Sarah E., et al. “Abstract C92: A diagnostic review of barriers to and opportunities for improving HPV vaccination in Alabama.” (2018): C92-C92.
- Gervais, Frédéric, et al. “Systematic review of cost-effectiveness analyses for combinations of prevention strategies against human papillomavirus (HPV) infection: a general trend.” BMC public health 17.1 (2017): 283.
- Transmission
- Kero, Katja, and Jaana Rautava. “HPV infections in heterosexual couples: mechanisms and covariates of virus transmission.” Acta cytologica 63.2 (2019): 143-147.
- Giuliano, Anna R., et al. “EUROGIN 2014 roadmap: Differences in HPV infection natural history, transmission, and HPV-related cancer incidence by gender and anatomic site of infection.” International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer 136.12 (2015): 2752.
- Guenat, David, et al. “Exosomes and other extracellular vesicles in HPV transmission and carcinogenesis.” Viruses 9.8 (2017): 211.
- Zouridis, Andreas, et al. “Intrauterine HPV transmission: a systematic review of the literature.” Archives of gynecology and obstetrics 298.1 (2018): 35-44.
- Louvanto, Karolina, et al. “Breast milk is a potential vehicle for human papillomavirus transmission to oral mucosa of the spouse.” The Pediatric infectious disease journal 36.7 (2017): 627-630.
