My friend sent me this article the other day that explores another risk of unprotected oral sex. I can honestly say that this is new news and information to me. Very interesting...
Please read
HPV study finds 7% of U.S. teens, adults carry virus in mouths
I think this is extremely important, and should be a wake up call to everyone, especially given that 80% of adult will eventually become infected with HPV.
ReplyDeleteEVERY child should receive the HPV vaccine before becoming sexually active!
Zambia RPCV here - just started reading today, and I hope to get through the rest of the blog soon. A friend referred your blog with a comment similar to, 'if it wasn't us, it was one of our friends.' In my case, 'There, but for the fates, go I' is much more apt.
ReplyDelete...peace and hope and love to the author.
Also a PhD Immunologist - important to keep in mind that HPV and HIV are exceedingly different viruses with unique infectious profiles and biological mechanisms of pathology.
Some minority of the ~140 or so identified genotypes of human papillomaviruses (HPV) are transmitted primarily through sexual exposures - many more are transmitted other ways. HPVs infect skin cells and cause them to act strangely, producing more viruses and infrequently, causing them to make a turn toward cancer (cervical, esophageal, anal, etc). The vast majority of HPV infections are cleared naturally by the infected person's immune response, and they end up never causing long term problems. HPVs are MUCH more infectious than HIV on a per-exposure basis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12543621 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22241800 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15809897
HIV is sometimes also transmitted through sexual exposures and commonly through other routes as well. HIV infects CD4 T cells in mucosal tissues or circulating in the blood, and it is not cleared by the natural immune response. HIV transmission is a relatively rare, as measured per-exposure event, and rates of transmission correlate strongly with viral load. With treatment, HIV is a chronic, manageable illness. The landscape of HIV disease has changed dramatically with the antiretroviral treatments available today.
Wikipedia has great articles about both viruses, including transmission biology, epidemiology, and natural history, but the short story is that comparisons of HPV and HIV transmission are difficult to make without a very clear focus and lots of details.
Respect to the author. This is a fantastic way to shed light and share ideas on difficult topics and issues and to spread knowledge.
Thank you for posting. I mistakenly thought in 2012 the dangers of HPV, regarding oral, anal and vaginal sex were common knowledge. WHERE are young people getting the idea that oral sex is "safe"? Is it the heterosexual concern of pregnancy that fuels this?(not that I don't think heterosexual couples SHOULDN'T be concerned about pregnancy, but sexuality is about much more. )
ReplyDeleteJess,
ReplyDeleteI walked my PCV son through the Venn diagram of his and his partner's recent (1.5 years) sexual encounters. After considering the results, they both went and had themselves tested.
Education is a powerful tool: keep on talking!