I had my smear test results today and I have also been told that I have HPV I haven’t been sexually active for many years I’m in shock because I’ve never had this before and I’ve been told that I have to have to have another test in twelve months time but I’m not going to wait that long to be retested I think it’s to long to wait until another test is to be done my mother died of ovarian cancer when she was 32 years old and I’m not prepared to wait 12 months so I’m going to go to a private clinic and get retested in three months just to have peace of mind because I’m absolutely terrified and now I’m going to be worrying about this until I have my second test done. I’ve been reading about this but this doesn’t make me feel any better about the situation and the possibility that it could turn into something else. My cells were normal but who knows what can happen within a few months time. Sorry to be so negative about this I’m just really scared of the outcome 

Hello there. Yes, it’s a massive shock. I found it hard to process. I’d been having some pelvic pain which prompted me to catch up with a smear in the first place. The last thing I expected was to be told I had HPV but they couldn’t test my cells for abnormalities, so I was told I’d have to retest in 3 months. So, I had a colposcopy. They found nothing wrong and then when three months later I was retested for HPV, guess what, it had gone! So I don’t know if it was a reactivated old infection, or there’s such a thing as a false positive test? I agree get the test for peace of mind. Cervical cancer takes a long time to develop allegedly, but they obviously know HPV causes cervical cancer. If there are some of us that have an old infections that reactivate every time our immune system is low, one wonders if that puts us more at risk? They probably just don’t have the data, the NHS only started testing for HPV as part of the smear in 2019. Good luck, try not to worry too much, you have no abnormal cells. Let us know how you get on, so others who come along can see they aren’t alone. 

Hello there. Yes, it’s a massive shock. I found it hard to process. I’d been having some pelvic pain which prompted me to catch up with a smear in the first place. The last thing I expected was to be told I had HPV but they couldn’t test my cells for abnormalities, so I was told I’d have to retest in 3 months. So, I had a colposcopy. They found nothing wrong and then when three months later I was retested for HPV, guess what, it had gone! So I don’t know if it was a reactivated old infection, or there’s such a thing as a false positive test? I agree get the test for peace of mind. Cervical cancer takes a long time to develop allegedly, but they obviously know HPV causes cervical cancer. If there are some of us that have an old infections that reactivate every time our immune system is low, one wonders if that puts us more at risk? They probably just don’t have the data, the NHS only started testing for HPV as part of the smear in 2019. Good luck, try not to worry too much, you have no abnormal cells. Let us know how you get on, so others who come along can see they aren’t alone.