HPV and Chemical Exposure

Hi @ziegler2996 and welcome to the Head and Neck group. As far as I am aware, HPV is the human papilloma virus spread human to human, not chemical. You certainly can read up on it in many places. Does a combination of HPV and chemical trigger cancer? Oh I wish we knew. And even with that, what chemical and how? My agent orange exposure? My printing chemicals expose? My ten years smoking? Countless other exposures? We could point fingers or we could just go on living. I got cancer. I treated it. The sun came up this morning and I’m happy about that.
I imagine he is slowly recovering after treatment and it will take longer than he wishes. It always does. I am happy to help with his recovery and I wish him well and soon.

Not sure what causes HPV but I had the same and never smoked but second hand smoke can be a factor I’m sure and being a fire fighter exposure to all of those I’m sure contributed to his case .I had 35 radiation and 7 chemo same as he did Lost 90 lbs put in a feeding tube and went for 60 hyperbaric oxygen treatment 2 hrs a day 5 days a week for 60 days .It saved my voice box and created new blood vessels and blood supplies to radiation damaged areas and saved me back to eating full blast and put on 4o lbs .If you do anything please look into Hyperbaric you will be glad you did .Good Luck 🤞🥊

@ziegler2996, like others have posted, I'm not aware of the play between HPV and chemical exposure. Sometimes we never know the cause. However, there is continued research studying the link between firefighting and cancer. You might be interested in reading more about the National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer, the largest effort ever undertaken to understand and reduce risk of cancer among U.S. firefighters. Read more here:
- Calling all Firefighters: The National Firefighter Registry for Cancer https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/calling-all-firefighters-the-national-firefighter-registry-for-cancer/

How is your husband doing after treatment? Has he completed both chemo and radiation treatments?

My husband had tonsil cancer from hpv virus and one dr said smoking can weaken immune system as you get older and then you can’t fight off the virus. My husband smoked cigars once and awhile. Alcohol and tobacco I’m sure has something to do with it.

HPV is caused by a being infected with the HPV virus and it not clearing from your body so the virus lies dormant for years then reappears as cancer. Smoking and or chemical exposure can affect your treatment outcome and your immune systems ability to fight it off and make treatment as effective as it should be.

Yes, I believe that is quite likely. Why do many people with HPV not develop SCC? Smoking and alcohol consumption are definite risk factors for oral SCC. In my opinion, cancer results from a variety of exposures and a genetic predisposition of the immune system to miss catching and destroying cancer cell precursors. Just my opinion, fwiw.

For additional info. there are over 150 plus strains in the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) family and most of the body's immune system typically eradicates the virus within two years 90% of the time and most strains of HPV go away permanently without treatment. Unfortunately, where it doesn't, can cause health problems like cancer sometime down the road. Age is a risk factor for oropharyngeal cancer. It’s more common in older adults because it takes years to develop.
Also, 90% of all oral cancers today are now HPV-related and mostly are made up of men. Of all those HPV strains there are a few that cause cancer such as, HPV 16 & 18 are most commonly associated with development of cancer. The HPV 16 strain is strongly associated with throat cancer.

Most people clear the virus from their body which is why it does not turn into cancer. For some people around 10% the virus lies dormant and then it turns into cancer.

After you have cancer from hpv16 does it go away or will you still have it after treatments?

Very good question. Twenty-three years after treatment I certainly hope it has gone away. The thought of going through the years of treatment and repairs again is frightful. Alas, I think it can return in some although we usually hear of return within the first year or so. Some I understand have had reoccurrence eight or ten years later, but a minority of patients they are. I prefer the bliss of believing once and done. Maybe someone knows the statistics on this. For me, the answer is it goes away.