Can you have HPV for years before testing positive?

HPV could've been there for years before it shows up, if it ever does,” says Ramondetta. When talking to your partner about your diagnosis, remember 80% of people will have HPV at some point in their life.

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Can HPV be negative then positive years later?

What does it mean if you have a positive HPV test after years of negative tests? Sometimes, after several negative HPV tests, a woman may have a positive HPV test result. This is not necessarily a sign of a new HPV infection. Sometimes an HPV infection can become active again after many years.

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Can you have HPV for 10 years before testing positive?

You can have HPV for a long time without ever knowing it. HPV can stay in the body for 10-20 years. Finding out you have HPV doesn't mean you or your partner have been unfaithful. It's your decision whether or not to tell your partner you have HPV.

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Can you have HPV for 3 years but no abnormal cells?

HPV can stay in the body for many years. It can stay at very low or undetectable levels and not cause any problems. This means an HPV infection may have come from a partner a long time ago. There are many different types of HPV , but only some high-risk types can lead to cancer.

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Can you have HPV for years but no abnormal cells?

HPV found with no cell changes - means you have high-risk HPV, but you do not have changes to your cervical cells. So you will be invited for cervical screening sooner to check that the HPV has gone. This usually after a year.

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The 6 things you need to know about HPV

34 related questions found

How long does it take for HPV to show up on Pap?

Often, HPV warts will appear three to six months after sexual relations with an infected person; or they may take months to appear; or they may never appear. Likewise, the interval between an infection with HPV and a cervical smear abnormality can vary from months to decades.

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Is HPV normal for 3 years?

Although most people clear HPV within 2 years, the virus can stay in your body for many years – even decades – without causing any problems.

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Why is my HPV not gone after 2 years?

Around 90% of HPV infections clear within 2 years. For a small number of women and people with a cervix, their immune system will not be able to get rid of HPV. This is called a persistent infection. A persistent HPV infection causes the cells of the cervix to change.

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What happens if I have HPV 3 years in a row?

If you still have HPV after 3 years, you may need to have a colposcopy. You'll be asked to have a colposcopy. Information: HPV is a common virus and most people will get it at some point.

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What causes HPV to flare up?

– there's no evidence that HPV has triggers like herpes or asthma that cause flare ups, but many believe that a weakened immune system can lead to outbreaks being more likely. Genital warts are more likely to flare-up if your immune system is not able to effectively fight the HPV infection causing them to appear.

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How did I get HPV if I am married?

You can get HPV by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the virus. It is most commonly spread during vaginal or anal sex. It also spreads through close skin-to-skin touching during sex. A person with HPV can pass the infection to someone even when they have no signs or symptoms.

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Can they tell how long you had HPV?

A person may have HPV for many years before it causes health problems. If you or your partner receive a diagnosis of a disease from HPV, there is no way to know: How long you have had HPV; Whether your partner gave you HPV; or.

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Can stress cause HPV to flare up?

Those who said they were depressed or believed they had high levels of stress also still had an active HPV infection. HPV usually clears up on its own, but this study is really the first to indicate a link between stress and persistent HPV infection.

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What if my Pap is normal but I have HPV?

The most common reason for a negative Pap test with a positive HPV result is that the patient has an HPV infection, but the infection is not causing any cellular abnormalities. Cellular abnormalities caused by HPV can be quite focal on the cervix, while the HPV infection can be more widespread.

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Can you have HPV and not test positive?

A false-negative test result means you really do have an HPV infection, but the test indicates that you don't. This might cause a delay in appropriate follow-up tests or procedures.

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Does HPV always show on a Pap smear?

Pap tests, sometimes called Pap smears, look for abnormal cells on your cervix that can possibly lead to cervical cancer. Pap tests find cell changes caused by high-risk HPV, but they don't test for HPV itself. After your doctor sends your Pap test to the lab, the results will come back as “normal” or “abnormal.”

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Can your body clear HPV after 5 years?

Most people who become infected with HPV do not know they have it. Usually, the body's immune system gets rid of the HPV infection naturally within two years.

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Can HPV clear after 7 years?

Results. The majority of oncogenic oral HPV infections cleared quickly, with a median time to clearance of 1.4 years (interquartile range = 0.5-3.9 years). After 7 years of follow-up, 97% of incident and 71% of prevalent infections had cleared.

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Can you have HPV for 15 years and not know?

HPV can lie dormant for years

Although the virus often heals on its own, in other cases, it lies dormant in the body and can trigger cancers years after infection. In fact, cervical cancer from HPV commonly takes 10 to 20 years or more to develop.

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Can HPV clear after 4 years?

For the cells already infected with HPV, you'll have to rely on your immune system to clear out the virus, which usually takes between one and three years.

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Should I worry about HPV positive?

If you have HPV, there's a very good chance it won't be a long-term problem for you.” Your immune system will attack the virus and it will likely be gone within two years. Of the millions of cases of HPV diagnosed every year, only a small number become cancer. Most of those cases are cervical cancer.

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Can HPV make you feel unwell?

HPV usually doesn't make you feel sick or cause any symptoms. Your immune system can fight off the infection before you ever know you have it, but you could still spread it to others before that happens. If you do get symptoms, the most common signs of HPV are genital warts.

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Why are Pap smears every 3 years now?

A big reason for the change: We now better understand the way cervical cancer develops over time—we know it takes many years to develop—so we've expanded the time between screenings. We also now have two screening options to detect cervical cancer, the Pap test and the HPV test.

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