Hi 123sarah123

The screening programme has changed since 2019 introducing HPV as a first point test rather than second, before the update they would only test for it if abnormal cells were present, now each smear is tested before the cells are checked if you test negative they don't check the cells since dyskaryosis of concern is a reaction to an active HPV infection, so you are right to assume if they'd found any form of abnormal cells that needed investigating you would be seen sooner since they would have checked following the positive result, usually in the form of a colposcopy to have a closer look at the cervix and if cells are present depending on the grade treatment would be offered low grade is given the chance to go away on its own as more often than not it does as evident by your results.. however if it persists with a HPV positive result after 2 year they will offer treatment.. it wouldn't come up positive when it's in it's dormant state it comes back negative it's only when it's active that it can be detected.. it's believed in some people it can lay dormant for many years before it activates or some can have an active infection from the get go, nobody actually knows when or who they contracted it from.. unless they've only had one sexual partner then they would know lol you could of had HPV before the 2019 smear but there is no way of knowing since you were negative then, dyskaryosis is just a word for abnormal cells on a smear low grade abnormalities happen often in younger woman without HPV (25 under) but aslong as there's no active HPV infection there's no significance to the changes and no monitoring/treatment is needed it's too unlikely to progress, so either it could be your age or you had an active infection then suppressed it.. some woman go in and out of dormancy through their lives whereas some woman's immune systems keep it dormant once they've 'cleared' it, so it's entirely possible if you did have it back then your immune system pushed it back into dormancy before the smear and had the potential to progress to a higher grade and it's reactivated again or you could be dealing with another strain all together.. each person you have sex/sexual contact with who has had atleast 1 sexual partner before you increases the chances of contracting a new strain it doesn't have to be penatrative sex any sexual contact with genitalia including oral will do as it can live in the mouth.. its extremely common it's thought 80% of the population have it, yet have no knowledge of it there's over 100s strains 18 of them are known to cause C and have been the cause of 99.7% of CC cases HPV16 and HPV18 being the most prevalent.. the ones that cause warts don't have any link they are known as low risk if these types cause cell changes they are minor and aren't of any significance theyre different to the HPV strains that are associated with CC which are the high risk types, the testing is to prevent CC so they don't act on the low risk, the high risk ones are the ones they are focused on when it comes to smears, they have no symptoms and cause the dyskaryosis of concern that needs investigating.. so him not having warts doesn't mean he didnt have some type of HPV before you or that he doesn't have it currently, for now there is no test for men so it's just us that find out.. it's only been recently that alot of us found out our HPV status because of the change in the screening programme, before you only knew if you ever had an abnormal smear if you didn't you had no clue you had it xx

Thank you for getting back too me im guessing with the hpv i have got it wouldn't be serious as it would cause cell changes and if it caused cell changes it would of popped up in my recent smear

Is there any way of a dormant hpv leaving the body or is it with active hpvs or is it with only certain hpvs that leave the body and will my doctor know from my recent smear what type of hpv i have

Thank you 

Hello 123Sarah123 and thanks for posting,

I think you are correct to assume that as your most recent smear result made no mention of any abnormal cells, none were found. Being HPV positive means that the cells collected in your sample would have been examined. 

When HPV is inactive/dormant, it can't be detected, so there is no way of knowing if you had an inactive/dormant infection in 2019. 

There are lots of different sub-types of HPV, some cause warts and verrucas and others, when persistent, are linked to the development of abnormal cervical cells that could possibility have the potential to change into cancer much later. Not having visible warts doesn't mean someone can't have a current infection with the sorts of HPV that can lead to abnormal cervical cells. How anyone picked up HPV is always a mystery.

The HPV you have could possibly lead to cell changes, but these could go back to normal once the HPV clears up and if they don't because HPV persists, this is where screening comes into the picture. Cervical screening is preventative - the idea is to pick up abnormal cells and assess them so that, when needed, they can be treated to prevent cancer from developing in the future. It takes years and years from picking up HPV to develop cancer if this happens which it usually doesn't because of HPV clearing up and screening. Most people's immune systems get on top of HPV within a few years and no harm is done. The key thing with cervical screening is to attend your next screening appointment whenever that may be. 

HPV seems to clear up in many people so most likely, in these people the immune system gets rid of it for good. But it is possible to have HPV more than once and this can be because of re-infection probably with another different subtype as well as a dormant infection re-emerging. 

Please do feel free to give us a call if you want to talk anything over, our number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are here weekdays from 9-5. 

Best wishes,

Julia

Thank you so much for getting back too me this has cleared up much and much worry that the virus could go dormant again but now i know its active i can do things about it and hopefully my immune system can get rid of it 

No that's not really how it works, both low and high risk strains can cause cell changes (changes don't always happen, with either low or high risk) the type only matters when it comes to the potential of, if any cells have formed whether they can get worse or eventually turn cells malignant low risk has pretty much 0 chance so those changes aren't significant or abnormal enough and never will be, but the higher risk ones those need to be monitored, sometimes you can find out through the doctor which strain you have but 9 times out of 10 it's reported as low or high risk rather than the strain itself, if your being checked in 12 months you will have a high risk strain you wouldn't be getting monitored if it was low risk.. many people have a high risk strain but they don't go on to have changes.. HPV is just a known cause, that doesn't mean to say because you have a high risk strain you WILL get CC many have the infection persistently and never had/have any bad changes, they just don't know who's body will react to the virus in a certain way.. it's like smokers many go on to get LC because of the nicotine but not every smoker does it just seems to be one of those hit and miss things 

There is no way to completely expel it from the body only known thing that clears it is when the immune system suppresses it into dormancy, once you have the virus you always have it just not in an active state, like the herpes virus that causes cold sores it's there just not causing any sores until it's active, if you live a healthy lifestyle some immune systems can keep it at bay but someone could do the same as someone else and it work for them but not the other some infections linger no matter what they do xx

Not sure if this is allowed since it's a different site, but it may be worth taking the time to have a read through www.jostrust.org.uk/.../abnormal-cells if you havnt came across it already, it might give you some info that you havnt been able to find on here xx