Does a normal pap smear rule out HPV?

As far as I know the way to find out if you have HPV is through a pap smear, which would be abnormal. Is this correct?

NO, a normal Pap cannot completely rule out HPV. It just means that you're okay for now. You need to get a Pap smear every year to monitor conditions on your cervix. HPV can incubate for up to three years before lesions start to form. So even if you have a normal Pap today and stop having sex, there's still a chance that next year, you might find an abnormality in your Pap.

Using Pap smears to test for HPV is inductive. Research has shown us that most cervical cancer is caused by HPV. So if your Pap shows cell abnormalities (which could lead to cancer), chances are good that HPV is there. It's like seeing hoof prints and figuring that a horse must've been in the area.

As for HPV testing, it's not recommended for women under 30.

If you are under 26, you really ought to talk to your doctor about Gardasil, the vaccine against HPV. Even if you are sexually active, it can help you avoid the 4 most common strains of HPV (as long as you have not already contracted them).

The HPV test is LIKE a pap test but completely different. The way I understood was they could find it through an STD screening test which you specifically have to request - something completely different from a pap. Ladies, get educated, and if you don't know for sure ask your doctor. Your doctor should be closer to you than your priest! If you can't talk to him/her about EVERYTHING, then you need a new doctor!

Apparently a "normal" pap smear isnt ****. Or so I learned the hard way!

A Pap smear cannot tell you definitively whether you have HPV. Only an HPV test, which can usually be performed on the same sample of cervical cells collected for the Pap, can do that.

A Pap is a test in which your doctor or nurse scrapes a small sample of cells from your cervix then sends it to a laboratory. A technologist then looks at the cells under a microscope for signs of abnormal changes caused by HPV. While Paps identify many women in need of treatment, the test is not foolproof. Abnormal cells may be missed; likewise, cells make look abnormal when they are not. In contrast, the HPV test is an objective, computerized molecular test that directly detects the genetic presence of high-risk types of HPV. It is approved for routine use along with the Pap for all women age 30 and older (who are most at risk of developing cervical cancer). If you鈥檙e under 30, the HPV test is used for follow-up evaluation when Pap results are inconclusive.

You can read more about Pap and HPV testing here: http://www.thehpvtest.com/under-30/HPV-t...

Hope this helps,

Tracey from theHPVtest.com

As a few others mentioned, no, a pap smear does not rule out HPV because, like herpes, HPV can be found latent in cells. Abnormal cells on a pap just mean that you have an active HPV infection. A true test for HPV would be the HPV test, which can test for both the low risk and high risk types of HPV. I don't know about other clinics, doctors, etc, but Kaiser has now started testing EVERYONE for HPV, no matter the age. I just had an HPV test as well as my pap done and was found to be negative for high risk HPV and I am 28. This just allows doctors to decide how to manage their patients. If you test positive for the virus, they may make you come in for paps twice a year instead of once a year to monitor you. There is no treatment for HPV unless there is an abnormality on your pap smear. You may also want to consider gardasil like someone else previously mentioned, if your age is appropriate for this.