Question about immunity - HPV

[HereIGoAgain]

Just say you have HPV in your cervix and also in your throat and your body builds immunity to it, does it clear/suppress this strain of HPV from your whole body (i.e both your cervix and throat) or is the immunity localised to specific cells (so your body could clear/suppress the hpv from your cervix but you could still have an hpv infection in your throat and vice versa?)

Not sure if the immunity is in your blood stream or local to the cells of your mucus membranes?

I am not talking about genital warts but the high risk types of hpv.

Btw, I know that there is no point in worrying about hpv, I know how common it is and all that jazz but that doesn't stop that awful feeling in my gut (pretty sure you all know the one I mean)

I have no-one to ask and am trying my best not to google it hence my post.

Thanks!

[MJF]

Once the immune system clears an HPV infection, you should have some immunity to that HPV type regardless of where it occurs in your body.   But you cannot say that you would be immune to HPV after a cervical exposure and clearance by the immune system. 

HPV-related head and neck cancers are very very uncommon.   

Given the strong campaign to make the HPV vaccine mandatory for all school-age teens, they want to promote all potential risks of HPV and expand to men and boys.  Anal cancers are not as nice to talk about, so they found another reason to tell people to get vaccinated.   Just my opinion.

[MJF]

To be clearer....researchers believe that after clearance of a specific type of HPV (say HPV 16), you should have some immunity (your body now recognizes the virus).  However to call it complete "immunity" is probably not accurate as there have been people observed to have repeat infections of the same type. 

[HereIGoAgain]

Thank you!

So if you had the same strain on your cervix and your throat at the same time (just say hpv16 contracted at the same time) and your body cleared that strain from your cervix then it would also have cleared it from your throat?   

I suppose my question is would it clear hpv16 from your whole body or just from a localised site (your immune system would have fought it from your cervix but then has to start again on your throat or would that immunity that was built up by the infection on your cervix clear both)?

I completely understand what you mean about being able to get it again and immunity is not necessarily full immunity or lifelong.

I don't even known why I feel the need to know the answer to this, I've never been diagnosed with hpv of any type or had an abnormal smear but this question just goes round and round in my head

[Slangevar]

(Thank you for asking this question... I've been casually wondering the same thing.)

I had heard about the rarity of HPV-caused head & throat cancers. Apparently the cure rate for people with HPV-caused head & neck cancers is also much better than those who get them from a long lifetime of smoking & drinking. So I suppose that's something. :-)

[mariea]

I don't think you are immune, I think it is just dormant in your body but can come back at any time.  I'm not sure though.  I have one of the high risk strains and my paps the past 2 times have finally been clear (one coming up..eeks!)  ANyway, I asked my dr if it was clear and I got the shot would I be safe from it in the future.  He said there is some controversy over that and he really doesn't have a for sure answer.  Honestly though I think throat cancer from it is much more rare. 

[Slangevar]

My doc said that when your immune system clears it, it's gone.  He hasn't seen it recur in any of his patients whose immune systems have successfully cleared it. (And he's been in the business a looooong time.)

[HereIGoAgain]

Thanks Slangevar, makes me feel normal(er) knowing I'm not the only one who has wondered this :)

Gone from just your cervix though or gone from your body completely if you happened to have it in more than one location?

I resorted to google earlier (my bad) but couldn't find anything specific, I did come across a few people asking the same question (but they didnt have an answer either). It'll probably just be one of these things I'll never know but I suppose at the end of the day it doesn't actually matter. Do you ever feel that your anxiety becomes compulsive?  The answer doesn't actually make a difference but its like I can't relax until I know the answer and have exhausted all routes to find out.

Lately my anxiety has been like this and I really need to get a grip. For instance lately I've been wondering if my throat looks normal, I don't think there is anything wrong with it but I have anxiety until I know that it's "normal" and is similar to everyone else's

mariea - good luck with your pap, I'm sure it'll be fine :)

[Slangevar]

I've looked online for info about HPV, too, but it seems to vary widely. They're still obviously learning about it. But I trust my gynecologist... he's been in the business for as long as I've been alive and he's tracked hundreds of patients with HPV. He said that most women are able to clear the infection totally and it never returns. (Some are not able to clear it, and it sticks around.)  I never asked him the question about the throat, but I would expect if you're able to clear it from your cervix, you're also able to clear it from your throat.

But like everyone said, HPV-caused throat cancers are rare and more easily treated than those caused by smoking & alcohol. That's all I have to go on for now!