Does anyone know anything about HPV (Human Papillomavirus) in regards to PsA? HPV is transmitted sexually and VERY common in anyone who has ever had sex and most people dont even know they have it. In most people, their immune system is able to fight the HPV and it goes away without any symptoms or harm. In others, it may stay around for years and not cause symptoms or cause genital warts &/or cervical cancer(there are over 100 kinds of HPV, some cause genital warts others cause cervical cancer). HPV in women is diagnosed through a pap-smear and there is no test for men (men usually only find out about it if they have a strand of HPV that causes warts) which is why I think more women would know about this topic.
Anyway, my question is this: have any of you been told you have HPV (whether you have symptoms or not) and has this been affected by your PsA?
I was told I have HPV and my gyno found pre-cancerous cells in my cervix. I had a leep procedure done and a sliver of my cervix was removed. So now it is a waiting game until my next pap-smear to see if my immune system clears the virus or if pre-cancerous cells return. So the main issue regarding my PsA is that, as you know, a lot of the meds we take weaken our immune system. I had a conversation with my rheumy since I am worried that starting the biologics could be dangerous if my immune system is weakened to the point that the HPV progresses and leads to cervical cancer. My rheumy has NO experience with patients that have PsA and HPV so she didnt know what to tell me. The conclusion we came to is that all my problems with PsA are a given where as cervical problems from the HPV are not. So the plan is to continue with the MTX and possibly add the biologics soon. I currently have no symptoms from the HPV and hopefully it will prove to be gone when i see my gyno again.
Since my rheumy does not have experience with this, I thought i would bring it up on the off chance that anyone here does.
A little public service announcement since I am on the topic: if you are 26 or younger (they figure once you reach 26 you probably already had sex and have been exposed to HPV since it is so common), male or female, there is a vaccine that protects against the most common types of HPV. So it is worth considering, especially if you are a woman and want to protect yourself against cervical cancer.
