Dear Dr. Sue Johannsen

Dr. Johannsen really rubs many of us in the herpes community the wrong way and a friend of mine wrote her an email a few months ago and has given me permission to repost it here.

Kerry says: Who knows if they'll forward it to her. I believe I went easy on her because I don't think she realizes how she's not living in reality on the issue of std's. Here's what Kerry said:

"Sue, I really enjoy watching your show. I like how you are frank and real and tell it like it is. But when you answered a question the other night, it really upset me.

I don't remember the woman's name, but she called with a legitimate beef about her husband cheating on her with a 20-something who claims to be a "carrier" for hpv. She asked if that was warts. You made the face you always do when people bring up an std and said, yes, it is warts.

Sue, with all the added information out there on tv commercials and the push for more awareness of this very common problem, do you think maybe the next time someone asks about hpv you could also add that most people have had an hpv infection of one strain or the other at some point in their lives and not known it?

I have never in my life had a wart. But I had cell changes in my cervix that were precancerous and tested positive for one of the high-risk strains of hpv. After three years of constant vigilance I don't test positive anymore for hpv, but I'm fully aware that it could resurface at any time. I'm no different than millions of women out there and I think they need to be informed of that instead of stigmatized by the letters HPV.

Not to mention that you informed the viewer that if her husband had no symptoms for a month, he would be free and clear and Sue, that's not the case. Men are walking all over the place with hpv infections, never know it, and spread it to women. For certain strains, there are no symptoms for men. And the only tests for hpv are the Pap smear and DNA hpv test and they're not suitable for testing males.

I imagine the ridiculously high number of high-risk hpv infections could be the reason that they're developing a vaccine. Here are some links.

http://womens-health.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2003/108/1

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/cervical-cancer-vaccine1102

As wonderful as condoms are for preventing transmission of most std's, they really don't fully protect from hpv either.

Sue, I just had to write and ask you to please, for the sake of the young ones who haven't exposed themselves yet to sex or for women who don't go for regular Paps and think hpv is an "eww gross" std that won't happen to them, could you be a little more careful about the way you deal with those calls?

I'm not a nurse or a doctor, but I've unfortunately had to deal with this issue after having been in a monogamous relationship for years, and I know how awful knowing I could develop cervical cancer in the future is and I don't want women to be so stigmatized by the word hpv that they don't do something about it.

Even if you could update your website's information about it, you could help combat this problem.

Once again, I really like your show and have a great time watching it when I can. I mean no disrespect here, but I wanted to give you some feedback into what I think was a dropped ball issue.

Thank you for taking the time to write to Dr. Sue Johannsen Kerry. I always hope that she'll respond with a 'not so negative' come back. She always does that little "ewwwwwww" that she does and I really wish she'd stop. She's only helping to keep up the negative stigma on issues which I don't feel warrant such negativity. They're viruses and as long as people aren't afraid to 'tell' a mate, and if the mate is willing to take the risk, then what difference does it make!! Oh, the ignorance in our society simply baffles me sometimes.