HPV and smears?

[amandacarnet]

Does anyone know,if you have had a smear and no HPV is detected, whether you need to have a smear again if you have not had sex?
Surely you wouldn't? With my last smear I was told they first check for HPVand if they don't find that, then they don't do any further checks.

If you haven’t ever had sex, no you don’t need to have a smear until you do. If you mean you haven’t had sex since your last smear, yes, I still would. It’s unlikely but possible for something to be missed, so why take the chance when you can just get it done?

I also live in an area where they test the smear for HPV and if it’s negative they don’t look any further so if I were not having sex I wouldn’t bother with a smear .

Thanks floral.
I know the advice has always been to have a smear even if you haven't had sex since your last one. But logically if they only test for HPV, then the result is always going to be negative

But logically if they only test for HPV, then the result is always going to be negative

Not necessarily, HPV is transmitted in more ways than just penetrative sex. If the virus is present on your skin you can even infect yourself with it. Obviously it’s something you have to decide for yourself, but just because you didn’t have HPV last time doesn’t mean that you won’t have it this time.

Okay. I thought HPV was only transmitted during sex? I had never heard that it could be transmitted in any other way.

The NHS website says :
You can get HPV from:

any skin-to-skin contact of the genital area
vaginal, anal or oral sex
sharing sex toys

HPV is transmitted via skin to skin contact. So technically, yes, you can get it other ways. Anytime someone puts their skin next to yours, whether you have sex or not, if they have an active infection, they could technically transmit it. But none of these tests are 100% accurate (I work in sexual health). Mistakes happen. Your result several years ago could have been a false negative (even if unlikely). There's no reason not to get checked really.

Okay so it sounds like there is a tiny possibility I could have HPV, if my last smear result was wrong or it somehow got transmitted skin to skin - not sure how though as no sex, and that includes sex toys. With such a tiny rush I don't think it is worth having another painful smear.

I had an abnormal smear with cin3 but was hpv negative and had to have a lletz procedure to remove them so I worry about the new method of testing tbh

So sorry to hear that. Yes I was surprised when the nurse told me that as I had always been told that although it is rare, it is possible to have cervical cancer without HPV.

Also HPV is not particularly well understood still, but it seems that you can have it, your body deal with it so you'd have a negative test, but it lie dormant and reactivate years later. So smear tests do continue to be helpful!

Thanks. This is what I find hard, there is so much contradictory information. I don't know if I have ,ever had HPV, but the nurse told me that once it has gone from your body that is it gone for ,ever, unless you catch it again.

HPV can lay dormant and come back later in life. Your body clears it and you can have a negative test but you still have the virus and it can reactivate itself years later.
Also the cin3 with a negative HPV is due to the fact that the HPV test only checks for the so called high risk genotypes. The others are considered low risk, so there isnt a routine test out there for them. I used to test for them in my last job but it was very rarely ordered and a very manual test. We only ever did them for 1 doctor. As far as I know there isnt even a test for every known genotype, just the more common ones.They are low risk, not no risk and it is unusual for them to cause issues but they still can in some people.