I have had GCA for over 4 years. I was looking online and came across some research that has shown a significant association between GCA and HPV. Has anyone been told this by a rheumatologist? I have never heard of it before. . It can be found on
GCA and HPV
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
(corrected link added by PMRpro)
Hi Maura, the link doesn't work. Can you check it please??😁
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
This paper was issued 2012 and I have a feeling it went all quiet after that ....... The study group was just 22 cases and....................
Hmmm. It was interesting looking at a bit of HPV research in Spain...virgins were HPV free and prostitutes weren't 🙄. In the USA where the HPV/GCA research took place over 24m cases (1) of HPV, with new ones every year so laying that on top of GCA data, says to me that the levels of significance are set a little skewed. .... Finding a number of "virgins" of 67 to 79 as in their study might be difficult as some sort of control group. Research on nuns (Google nuns and HPV) show hpv rare in nuns but not unknown.....can't even go down that research alley. On top of this there are over 30 (?)forms /kinds of HPV. I lost the will to keep reading round the subject then. I couldn't find any data on nuns and GCA. 😊 Lots of cases of HPV out there and it would be surprising if there wasn't an overlap.
I don't have much faith in the significance of the findings...
The results of our study revealed a statistically significant association between HPV positivity and biopsy confirmed temporal giant cell arteritis GCA (p = 0.001). Further studies are necessary to elucidate the pathophysiology underlying this association.
1.
prb.org/humanpapillomavirus...
Thanks for the good link Poopa-
,
Human Papillpa Virus has been in the STD/STI/VD texts for over 60 years as the real source of cervical cancer. (It was also at one time called "venereal warts.") It is one of the only cancers known for sure to be causesd by an infectious agent So the greater unprotected sex a person has, the greater the risk--and that's why virgins don't get HPV or cervical cancer. Although the cytologists and pathologists can't see the virus itself on a Pap smear, they can see the effects on the cervical cells. The main reason for doing Pap smears is to detect cervical cancer in the pre-cancerous amd early cancer stages. The sooner the early changes are detected, the more easily it can be treated before ut develops into cervical cancer.
Now that we have a test and a vaccine for HPV, all women who are sexually active should consider having the HPV vaccination. The cevico-vaginal junction in young women is much ore susceptible to all STI's, which is young women who are not yet sexually active should get the vaccine.
Men can obviously get it, too- as the major conveyors, But they tend to be less symptomatic and do'nt normally go for STI checks unless they suspect the have an infection.
I think in the US, women who are pregnant are tested for HPV. There are a couple of strains of HPV that are not sexually transmitted, and they do not cause cervical cancer.
It is relatively rare - but I fear even virgins carry the virus ...
If you google GCA and HPV it should show up
jnasc's link works and I've put it in the post
Thanks for making the link clear. Yes, it was a small study & HPV seems to be widespread but it may only be a particular strain of HPV that causes it.
An association or correlation is not a causal relationship. How many people with that strain of HPV don't have GCA? How many people with GCA don't have that strain of HPV...I think they are different questions. Too early on a Sunday. 😂🤣😂
Yes, I understand all that. Just wondered if anyone had been told by a rheumatologist that there was a link.
If you search on posts your post is the only that has HPV in it...however that doesn't mean it has never been discussed in a thread. I haven't ever seen it discussed in the past 4 years. Others with more longevity here may have. But if there's no more research than a study of 22 it seems it may be unlikely that in general rheumies would check. Good luck!🌻
It was a VERY small study and there are a few points to bear in mind:
1) you can almost always find significance if you choose your statistics very carefully
2) 80% of sexually active people are +ve for HPV
3) Correlation is not causation!
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