hi all, was tested HPV+ with CGIN in Novemer. Had my LLETZ today, now waiting for biopsy results. Fingers crossed it worked. Now what does my husband need to do? If the results are clear, how do we prevent reinfection? What did your partners do? Thanks xx
hi @Smiley83
There is actually no such thing as getting reinfected with the same strain, once we have a particular strain of HPV we always have it, we could however contract a new strain of HPV thats what they mean in terms of reinfectionā¦ our bodies just suppress it enough to inactivate it so its not detectable/harmful we also create antibodies against that particular strain, most women suppress the virus indefinitely never to be seen again but in a small number of people it can reactivateā¦ they determined this as there have been many woman who havnt been sexually active since āclearingā the virus but they still had another positive test many years later and HPV is a DNA virus in certain circumstances dormant DNA can reactivateā¦ those whos infections reactivate, the number is very small otherwise we would see a huge increase in abnormal smears/HPV+ in the over 50s and thats not the case xx
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Hello Tinkerbelle29
Your explanation of HPV is spot on. However I would just like to clarify that there is apparently a second peak in women over 50 and one third of cases of cc are in women in this age group. Therefore I canāt emphasise enough how important it is to get screened and be aware of symptoms if you are over 50 and also over 65 when screening in the UK stops. Please encourage all your Mums, Aunties and grannies to keep up with their screening and also be aware of symptoms to look out for. Our generation were not vaccinated and we are too old for the vaccine now. With younger generations being vaccinated and therefore rates of cc being reduced in younger women, it is thought that in the future it will be women over 50 who are most likely to need monitoring. Hope this is helpful to someone.
A x
Hello Smiley
Ask your specialist team for advice but I would say both of you look after your immune systems; eat a healthy diet, stop smoking and follow healthy guidelines on drinking and exercise. Get lots of sleep and avoid stress.
There is an Ask the expert section on here.
Ax
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Hi @551
Thank you for for clarifying that hun 
we definitely need to encourage anybody with a cervix to be more vigilant, nomatter our age
I should clarify myself for anybody reading, my comment was mainly in terms of someone whos had a reactivation of an infection in the over 50s, most are exposed within the first year of being sexually active but they believe by the age of 40 everyone will have been exposed to HPVā¦ theres studies where woman had an active infection in their 20s with only a small number of those who participated testing positive again for the same strainā¦ its believed the cases in the over 50s are decade dormant infections or ones caught near the age of 40/more recent infections xx
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Hi Tinkerbelle29 and thank you for your reply. Sorry I jumped on your post; itās just that until I had my very first abnormal screening aged 55 I really did not know very much about HPV and really didnāt think that I was at risk of cc. I almost didnāt go for my routine screening but figured that I might as well as the NHS wouldnāt expect women to go unless there was a good reason. Since then I have been on a steep learning curve and have also realised how many women my age do not get screened and may be living with a false sense of security. I also hadnāt realised that abnormal screenings are quite common but that no-one talks openly about them. I was also shocked at how young some women with cc are. This forum has been a massive support and a place of reassurance. I like to make informed choices in life and find being informed helps me to worry less. We all need to support each other on here so I hope I didnāt cause offence by jumping on this post. I really wish there was a HPV test for men!!! A z
No apology necassary and there was no offence taken or caused
There needs to be alot more widespread information than there is, i was the same thinking i had no risk of CC especially with the vaccine thinking i was protected not knowing then that it only targets a couple of strains i thought it was all of them, i only went when i was invited to humour my mother whos also been through precancerā¦ it would make a huge difference to us if we were given the ins and outs before we get that kick in the teeth, if i knew then what i know now i wouldnt have been so dismissive
i wish there was too, im hopeful since its not too long ago there wasnt anything for us it may not be too long before they can have one thats as successful as ours at detecting it xx
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