Does having a cold sore mean you’ll get cervical cancer?

I’ve just had my first smear test and she mentioned it detects HPV. I had a cold sore a couple years ago and I swear these are caused by HPV which must mean I’m more likely to have cervical cancer? I’m so worried!

Reply 1

Scotland Yard

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

Cold sores are actually caused by herpes, not HPV, so don't worry.

In any case, pretty much every single person will contract HPV at some point and in the vast majority of cases it literally does nothing - only a couple of HPV strains actually cause cancer so don't worry too much about it.

Reply 2

Tracey_W

Original post by Anonymous #1

Don't worry about things as you will be absolutely fine.
The person who did the testing/screening was just making you aware of what the test detects okay.

I had a few smear tests and had nothing to worry about when receive the results back.

What are signs of HPV in females....
Most people with HPV do not know they have the infection. They never develop symptoms or health problems from it. Some people find out they have HPV when they get genital warts. Women may find out they have HPV when they get an abnormal Pap test result (during cervical cancer screening

Do cold sores mean you have HPV......
HPV is caused by the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) while herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). There are more than 100 strains of HPV and two strains of HSV. HSV-1 usually causes cold sores, although it can cause genital lesions through oral sex.

Reply 3

black tea

As someone has already said, it's very common for people to come in contact with HPV and in the vast majority of cases, the body just clears it and it causes you no bother. But as you mentioned, having HPV does increase your risk of having certain cancers, which is why people are now vaccinated against it. Smears now routinely test for HPV. If you have it, you will have more frequent smears than women who don't have it, which means that any changes (not cancer - abnormal cells that have the possibility of progressing to cancer) get picked up quickly and you can have treatment.

Your cold sore doesn't mean you are an increased risk of cervical cancer - it's cased by a different virus (HSV1). The only thing to be aware of with cold sores is not kissing/giving oral sex to people when you have cold sores so you don't pass the virus on to them.