smear test if a virgin

[AllyJuly66]

Anyone else receive loads of stuff about 'smear tests ' when a lifelong virgin. I know you can only get it from HPV but thats from when someone 'touches' your junk isnt it. You cant get it from shaking hands can you ? . I am an old git and getting fed up of this ....meanwhile I cant get a heart check

Yes, you are correct. HPV is sexually transmitted.
You can opt out of cervical smear screening, OP. Ring up the surgery and ask to speak with the senior nurse who can guide you through the process. That way, you'll be removed from the list and you won't be sent invitations to screenings, etc.

Your 'junk'?

how old to be classed as old git?

I think you can be born with the virus. I would go anyway, because it checks for abnormal cells and the chance of cervical cancer is tiny, but still possible. What have you got to lose?

If you've had any sort of sexual contact then there is a risk.

Even if you haven't it will still pick up any changes that you may experience.

HPV isn't the only cause of cervical cancer. Nuns can and do get cervical cancer, it's rare but not impossible. I lost a dear friend in her mid twenties to it and yes she was a virgin.

I once asked the nurse who does my smears if it was true it was always sexually transmitted, as I've only ever slept with one person (DH) and he's only ever slept with me, so I wasn't sure if it was really necessary for me to have them (I'm not scared, I just thought it might not be cost effective). She told me that although it's rare it's theoretically possible to get cervical cancer without any sexual contact, so in her opinion it was worth it.

Over 99% of cervical cancer is caused by certain strains of hpv, however it can be spread through other forms of sexual contact to penetrative sex. Your risk is likely to be low, so it's up to you whether or not to attend, and you can opt out of screening if you wish. www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/964.aspx?CategoryID=118

You don’t have to be a virgin to be a nun

OP ask at the gp’s to be withdrawn. You need to sign a form saying you have read an understand the leaflets and you understand you can ask to go back on the system at any time. That is all.

You don't have to be a virgin to be a nun - true

You don't have to have HPV to develop cervical Ca.

Your risk of cervical Ca being a virgin is much lower than if you are/have been sexually active, but not zero.

Smear invitations are sent from health boards, not individual practices. The practice can code you as 'smear declined' for the currently round, but you will get invited again the next time round until you are outwith the age criteria.

Smear tests test for cell changes due to hpv so will not pick up anything not hpv related. At the moment they check any low grade changes for strains of hpv. In the next couple of years, once the infrastructure is in place, they will test for hpv first then follow up positive results with cytology. This is primary hpv testing. It is far more effective.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/436770/cs4.pdf

I didn’t have h p v but I did have grade three changes

Smear tests test for cell changes due to hpv so will not pick up anything not hpv related.

This is incorrect. A smear test picks up cell changes, from benign inflammatory one to borderline to cancerous. MOST of those are HPV related, not all. Even more confusingly, not all subtypes of HPV are implicated in cervical Ca.