A Queer Story
Part 2: More Than a Woman's Burden

(Part 2 of a 6 part story)

back to Part 1 / forward to Part 3

Again, I am face down, my cheeks pulled outward by a student physician. My pint-sized dermatologist, Dr. Smurf, goes about her poking, but this time it’s a little more intense. She wears a magnifying scope of some sort on one eye and I can feel her prying deeper. After a few minutes comes the instruction to get dressed. When she returns to the exam room she explains that I can cease the Aldara, at least for now, as it doesn’t seem to be changing the game in any perceivable way. While this was certainly a relief to my wallet, there was still the fate of my condyloma-sick butthole to be considered. She wasn’t able to inform me of it’s final fate, but she did inform me that it was being referred to a colo-rectal specialist.

“While it is absolutely unlikely that you’ll develop any further issues, I’m referring you because it appears that some interior growth has manifested itself. Because there is a remote possibility of certain HPV infections causing anal cancer in men, I’d like you to be examined by a specialist who can decide upon the best course of action.”

“Wait, I know that HPV infections are linked to cervical cancers in women, but is this really an issue for men?”

“Well, most men actually remain asymptomatic altogether during the course of HPV infection, but there have been cases of anal cancer linked to the same strains causing cervical cancers in women.”

“But you’re not making the referral because you think I should be worried about cancer, right? I mean seriously, level with me if you’re even thinking that’s the case.”

“I have no reason to think you have any kind of cancer. I really just want you to see the specialist because he will be better equipped for handling things.”

With referral slip in hand, I left the office feeling confused. Despite what I considered to be an excellent command of the details when it came to STD’s, I never thought HPV associated cancer could ever be an issue for me. My take was that like menstruation, HPV associated cancer was the unfortunate burden of women. But now the whole world was different. Suddenly my not having anal sex led not only to anal HPV but now to potential anal cancer. What was next? Would I come down with a raging case of foot-and-mouth disease from not working with goats and sheep? Like many gay men, I pictured for myself not a future of acute disease or sudden death, but rather a normal descent into old age accompanied by a certain brand of jaded ennui, easily modulated with a mix of afternoon cocktails and drugs. Shit! How had this possibility escaped me? I decided I’d better look further into HPV.

Typing “HPV” into my Google bar and pressing enter resulted in thousands upon thousands of results, most of which were repetitive, extremely basic summaries. The primary modes of transmission are thought by experts to be genital-genital and genital-anal with many sources even stating an oral-anal, oral-genital pathway. Maybe I got this from that hot Italian guy who insisted on licking my ass? There are over a hundred known strains of the virus, approximately thirty of which are associated with infection of the genital-anal region. Out of this last group, thirteen or so are considered “high-risk” and contain the strains thought to be responsible for most cervical and possibly even most anal cancers. The rest are considered “low risk” and are more highly associated the appearance of condyloma. Good. Mine is a condyloma happy HPV!

All sources seem to agree that HPV is terribly common, with some estimating that up to ninty percent of sexually active individuals would contract at least one strain in their lifetime. As is usually the case, the number of partners increases the odds of contracting the virus. Extremely sexually active people are not only more likely to contract HPV, but more likely to become infected with multiple strains, hence increasing the possibilities for symptomatic disease and complications such as cancer. Condoms, while always advised to reduce risk, are seen as a half-measure at best when it comes to this virus. Too much is left exposed that could easily spread infection to another’s exposed areas. So much for Dr. Smurf’s overly enthusiastic condom endorsement. Infection is generally thought to be resolved in no more than “a couple of years” and many will show no outward signs of infection, even though they will spread it in a state of ignorant bliss.

Specializing my search a bit, I came across several tales of HPV without sexual contact. Even some experts admit that transmission without such contact is at least theoretically plausible. Other stories were of people who developed a raging case of warts well in excess of five years after having any sexual activity. Certainly this supports the idea of non-sexual transmission, but couldn’t it just as easily support the notion that HPV infection/dormancy persists far longer than the often repeated “couple of years”? After a little more Googling, I discovered that there is really no reliable consensus on this. Many medical experts think the virus can persist for decades. Perhaps my “love sacrifice” of over ten years ago was more of a sacrifice than I originally thought?

Read the next installment to A Queer Story, Part 3: Meeting Dr. Ass

by R.H.K, a man in Philadelphia, PA, age 38


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