What triggers RRP initially?
Answer by: Bettie M. Steinberg, Ph.D. Chief, Division of Otolaryngology Research LIJ Medical Center Associate Director and Chief Scientific Officer Institute for Medical Research at North Shore – LIJ “To all of you who wonder what triggered your RRP to start with, doctors and scientists who work with this disease cannot say for any individual patient. However, there are several things we do know: 1. Many people carry HPV in their throat without any disease. We call this virus latency. At least 5% of the people have latent virus, while 10 people in a million have RRP. Big difference! Obviously, most of the time the virus causes no problem. 2. Latent papillomavirus can be activated by irritation or trauma. In studies we have done in a model system, even minor irritation (like the UV exposure you get from one afternoon at the beach to give you a “pink” skin, or gently rubbing the skin with an emery board daily) can activate skin-specific papillomavirus. We think the same thing can happen
