Genital Warts Return after years?

[Buckboy]

In the late 90's (1997?) my then girlfriend informed me that she had been diagnosed with genital warts while under going her annual exam.  At that time, I had never even known to look at such things.  She wondered if she had received them from a recent ex-boyfriend who was in the navy.  I was sexually active prior to that relationship as well, married to an unfaithful wife.  Not long after, I did develop warts on my penis which were removed after two or three visits.  The doctor seemed to imply that this problem was over, so to be honest, I rarely thought of them again.

I met my wife in 2001.  She was married prior and sexually active with one other man after her divorce.  All seemed well.  We had a child in 2005 with my wife receiving regular pelvic exams before and to the present (Aug 2015).  She has never been told of any abnormalities or noticed any.

Through the years, once in a while, I would notice a what I thought to be a hard skin-tag like spot on my penis, but those would seem to just disappear.  Just last Saturday, November 7, 2015, I found an actual cauliflower wart on my penis.  It is pretty small with no other warts visible anywhere I can see.  (I might have felt one of those skin tags in the general area a while ago, but I am unsure.

Question is:  Can this outbreak be from the original infection of HPV/Genital Warts?  I have not had sex with anyone since meeting my wife, and I just do not suspect her to have been unfaithful.

My physician's office referred me to have the wart removed and took a urine sample to rule out other sexually transmitted diseases.  They were vague in answering the question I posed above.

Any input would be most helpful.  Sure hate to end up with a marital issue to boot.

[veryworried420]

Your doctor generalized. And his "no big deal" responses is very typical. Genital warts are just cosmetic issues and do not lead to cancer or death. Yes, genital sex is the most common way to spread it but we know that oral sex is spreading it too, just at much lower numbers.

Now you see why this STD is referred to as the common cold of STDs. The medical community knows its no big deal and nearly everyone has it or will have it. The vaccine doesn't cover all of the strains and no booster shot is available for people who got it when they were under 26.

[Buckboy]

Just a follow-up.  I went to the dermatologist referred by my primary physician group.  The doctor confirmed that genital warts caused by HPV can indeed come back with out a new infection.  He also reported that sometimes people get their first occurrence of warts DECADES after contracting the virus.  He believes that my issue is a reoccurrence of my earlier infection.  For female partners of people with HPV, he merely said to continue getting their screenings as directed by their doctor.  

Couple other things he passed along:
It's almost always genital area to genital area contact that spreads Genital HPV.  Also, often overlooked is the duration of the contact.  People receiving oral sex or a hand on their genitals for a few minutes are really not at risk.

In the short time I was there, I can't tell you how many times he said "It's no big deal at all".  He was really far more interested in my Athlete's Foot.

Anyway....

[veryworried420]

Although it is more likely to come from a recent sex encounter that you or your wife had, there are people who get more warts many years later. This is why the medical community says that "being dormant" does not imply you may never get more warts. It is definitely rare but not impossible. Usually, more warts comes from a lowered immune system due to stress, bad colds, lack of sleep, smoking, eating un-healthy, etc. Definitely have the wart removed and your wife should get tested asap. If you trust your wife, then this is just a re-occurence from your pre-marriage past.