Please help My mom

[mom22567]

SO this question is for my mom.  Recently my dad had genital warts come up for the first time in his life.  He went to the doctor and had them burned off.  So, naturally, seeing that he has never had them before my mom believe he has had an affair.  He did have an affair a long time ago when he was 22 (he is 49 now) and the woman did give him an STD (thankfully a curable one), which he passed on to my mom.  So, he is insisting that he has not had an affair and that the "Dr." says that it could have been dormant for the past 28 years.  OF course my mom is skeptical of his story because how can it stay dormant for that long?  We have read that it can on the Internet, but she went to the doctor today (NOT OBGYN, just general practitioner) and he was fairly certain that my father contracted this recently and that it was not 29 years ago.  She fell to pieces.  We NEED to know the truth... can it be dormant that long?  Everything we read is conflicting.   I am sure even if he did have an affair he will never tell the truth in order to try to save his marriage.  He honestly doesn't seem like the type of person to have an affair.. but what are we to think?  We just want to know if his version of the story is even possible and how possible it is..... By the way, mom has had the PAP HPV screenign in the past and NEVER tested positive.  We do not have the results of the HPV test from today.  We  are desperate for answers from a medical professional who know what they are talking about and has dealt with this before.   Thank you for your time.

[Julia2010]

I believe that it can be dormant for that long... thats why noone ever knows in a relationship who had it first... or if anyone cheated and whatnot.

[go765]

I got hpv  sometime in college and did not know it until i was married with kids. I had a reoccurance 13 years later. there is absolutely no way to know when you got it and reoccurance can happen with or without symptoms.
As a women and a Mom, may i also say...you should not have to worry about this for your mom, she is a grown up and should be seeking counseling right now to help her cope with her doubts.
Good luck.

[Naveed777]

I'm not a doctor too, but I'm also in complete agreement with simplynat

[simplynat]

There is no possible way to know for sure when or from whom a person contracted HPV. It can absolutely be dormant for over 20 years, most will never know they have it because usually there are no symptoms. HPV is fought by the immune system and in times of stress, pregnancy, ill health - it can be brought out into an active infection. Also, a woman can test negative for HPV but still in fact have it. The digiene test can only detect whether there is an active infection at the time (if it is dormant it will not be detected) and if there is an active infection whether it is of the high strain or low strain (wart) category. Unfortunately, in this situation, your mom cannot tell from HPV whether he was faithful or not. Your mother can only go from her heart.
Also, I am not a medical professional.