Genital Warts transmission?

Hello,

Last night I was making out with a girl and we were going to take it further and she told me that she had genital warts. She said that she had not had an outbreak in 3 years and her past 2 boyfriends never got them. Still, I did not have sex with her, nor was there any genital-to-genital contact. She did gave me oral sex and I pleasured her with my hand. I was under the impression that to get genital warts your genitals had to come in contact with the infected person's genitals. Now i read in some places online that because i pleasured her with my hand, the virus could be on my hand and maybe I can pass it to my own genitals through secondary contact. Or, because her hand was on my genitals at a time, it coudl have been spread that way. How likely is it that I got the HPV virus without genital to genital contact? The only contact i had with her vagina was with my hand, with which I did not immediately touch myself after or anything. Right now I'm second-guessing myself as to how careful I was, and i'm slightly stressed out.

1) How at risk am I?
2) Because she has HPV her system and I touched her vagina with my hand does that mean it is in my system and I can get genital warts?
3) How contagious is her HPV if she has no symptoms and has had none for a while?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I don't think you're at much risk, if any at all.  It's hard to be dogmatic and say that such transmission couldn't possibly happen, but ask yourself this--if warts could be spread by hand the way you suggest, wouldn't everyone who has warts spread them all over the place just from washing?  

Also, HPV is not 'in the system'--it is just in the epidermis.

In short, I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Take care.

Dr.  Rockoff

[104]

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