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sathorAccording to a 1997 American Journal of Medicine article, nearly three in four Americans between the ages of 15 and 49 have been infected with genital HPV at some point in their life.
Okay, so based on the other information: HPV is incurable, it never leaves the body completely but can achieve undetectable levels (yet still can be transmitted)
This basically means that 75% of the population can transmit HPV.
Another interesting point, I'm directing this somewhat towards you Chaos, although not entirely:
Most men do not show symptoms of HPV, and STD tests -do not- test for it. The only way it is usually detected in men is if they -show visible symptoms- and if they -show visible symptoms- they at least have a strain that doesn't cause cervical cancer in women (or penile cancer in men.)
This means that, likely, 75% of the male population has HPV and good portion have no idea. Apparently, guys like me have become some kind of scapegoat. I have the -least dangerous- strain of it, while there are probably far more men with the dangerous strains who don't even know it, think they are clean, and therefore, do not practice safe sex as often as I will.
This is really fucking unfortunate.
The more research I do about this disease, the more I realize how -prevalent- it is. Everywhere I read articles, I see things like, "Many people have this disease, do not let it destroy your sex life."
Well hell, I won't then. I'll disclose I have HPV, but at least I can disclose the fact it's a strain (as far as I know) that doesn't cause cervical cancer. How many men have it and don't know it, and therefore don't disclose it and appear to be "clean" - therefore, better than me? If 75% of the male population has had HPV, that means a -lot- of men.
This is the -only- reason I feel like disclosing is a way of -removing me- from the gene pool, while there are shit loads of people out there who spread it around unknowingly who appear to be better candidates for partners, when in reality, no better than me, and possibly worse if they have strains that have no visible symptoms.
Okay, so based on the other information: HPV is incurable, it never leaves the body completely but can achieve undetectable levels (yet still can be transmitted)
This basically means that 75% of the population can transmit HPV.
Another interesting point, I'm directing this somewhat towards you Chaos, although not entirely:
Most men do not show symptoms of HPV, and STD tests -do not- test for it. The only way it is usually detected in men is if they -show visible symptoms- and if they -show visible symptoms- they at least have a strain that doesn't cause cervical cancer in women (or penile cancer in men.)
This means that, likely, 75% of the male population has HPV and good portion have no idea. Apparently, guys like me have become some kind of scapegoat. I have the -least dangerous- strain of it, while there are probably far more men with the dangerous strains who don't even know it, think they are clean, and therefore, do not practice safe sex as often as I will.
This is really fucking unfortunate.
The more research I do about this disease, the more I realize how -prevalent- it is. Everywhere I read articles, I see things like, "Many people have this disease, do not let it destroy your sex life."
Well hell, I won't then. I'll disclose I have HPV, but at least I can disclose the fact it's a strain (as far as I know) that doesn't cause cervical cancer. How many men have it and don't know it, and therefore don't disclose it and appear to be "clean" - therefore, better than me? If 75% of the male population has had HPV, that means a -lot- of men.
This is the -only- reason I feel like disclosing is a way of -removing me- from the gene pool, while there are shit loads of people out there who spread it around unknowingly who appear to be better candidates for partners, when in reality, no better than me, and possibly worse if they have strains that have no visible symptoms.
