Correct. And it is rampant with no symptoms. A PAP will pick it up in women (and it's said on your next PAP it can be gone) and in men it's undetectable.
A PAP test looks for dysplastic (disorganized) cells as well as cancerous, the dysplasia being a possible fore-runner to cancer. If the immune system clears out the virus, the cells can return to a normal state. Non-viral infection can also cause the dysplasia - which is why a gynecologist should test thoroughly for other infection before doing a cone biopsy of the cervix, which in turn can lead to incompetent cervix and pregnancy loss.
All that said, a PAP test for the throat certainly should be possible - both the throat and the cervix being covered with squamous epithelium.
And Douglas is supposed to have had a walnut-sized lump in his tongue - how do miss that? His poor wife, she’s going to have to be swabbed above and below for a while.
Final speculation: would oral HPV infections and cancers acquired from men tend to occur further back in the mouth and throat than those acquired from women?
Not exactly. In men, the visible sign is warts and skin tags. Usually in a private area.