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Suggest Tests To Diagnose HPV Infection

Posted on Mon, 11 May 2015

Question: Hello doctor. I am a male 23 years old, and I recently had a sexual encounter about 3 months ago. I am a little worried about HPV. I do not have any warts, so i know that I dont have the low risk kind. I am particularly worried about the high risk strain. I understand there are 2 tests for women that can check for the presence of HPV. One is a pap smear, and another is an HPV DNA test. My question is regarding the HPV DNA test, not the pap smear. I heard that it checks skin cells collected from the cervix to detect for HPV DNA. Many websites online say they can do it for men as well. Basically they take skin cells from male genital area or anus and the machine detects the DNA just the same way. But men have to actually ask for the test because its commonly offered for us men. Question is 2 parts. Question 1, does the test detect a high risk HPV infection even if the virus is dormant in your body, and not active? My other question is, where can I go to get this test? Do I need to go to an OBGYN, or a family doctor? Thanks much

Answered by Dr. Richa Agarwal (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
There is no FDA approved test for men.

Detailed Answer:
Hello dear,

Thanks for trusting us about your health care.

I can understand your concern here and appreciate your awareness and knowledge.

But as far as in my knowledge there is no FDA approved HPV DNA test for men.

The only test to detect high strain HPV is anal pap test( which is also use for gay).

So please do not take any stress and there is no testing required in your case, if you are having warts than you can consult your family physician for the same.

Hope it is useful, feel free to ask more.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar