Question about warts and herpes

[nina1234]

I'm a 36 year old female who has not had sex for about three years. About a year ago, I was diagnosed with a mild case of genital warts (likely from my last partner from three years ago). I had unprotected sex with him a couple of times and later I found out he was rather promiscuous and of course I regret this.

In any case, I had initial removal of warts with podofilox at my gyn about 10 months ago over a few weeks, and it seemed to have gone away, but then I had a three more come up last month, and my dermatologist removed these with liquid nitrogen. It seemed to have worked well. I don't seem to have any more warts, but my dermatologist recommended that I try Aldara to boost my immune system. I've read a lot of negative reviews of Aldara (irritation, etc) so I wonder if it would be wise for me to use it, since it's very expensive but more importantly the irritation may not be worth it given I don't have any visible warts anymore. Second, because I was so shocked about the warts last year, I had asked my new gyn about the possibility of herpes and she said that I probably don't need to get a test since I've never had any symptoms and it would just be worrisome for no reason. Is this accurate given that I've been reading that herpes often does not have symptoms (and after a recent study by NYC department of Health the herpes infection rate among women look staggering.
Thinking back about three years ago after my last encounter, I had burning sensation over a couple of days a few weeks after unprotected sex, immediately went to my former gyn, but she found nothing except an abnormal pap smear. She did a culture swab for herpes but said she didnt see anything visible but she would do it anyway even though it may be inaccurate. I then attributed it to either an infection or something related to the warts infection. So my questions are 1) should I try Aldara or just wait to see if any warts show up and 2) what about HSV testing? Is my doctor accurate that it's not necessary given I have no symptoms or should I just get an HSV test because it can be completely asymptomatic?

[nina1234]

Thanks!! I accidentally posted this to the community site instead of the expert forum but I appreciate the comment. Yeah I think I may get IgG test just to stop thinking about it but I was kind of surprised at what my gyn recommended. Also, my old boyfriend was much more promiscuous than i thought and given what I know about him, I'm sure he was having a lot of unprotected sex before and after we were together. Anyway, thanks!!

[auntiejessi]

Hi there -

You aren't supposed to use aldara on healthy skin, so you need to just wait and see if they come back.

I also need to say that non-promiscuous people get HPV as well.  If you've had 3 or more partners, its a virtual guarantee that you have had hpv at one point or another.  80% will have it in their lifetimes.

Personally, I think getting tested for herpes makes sense, and I think it should be a part of routine testing, but many experts disagree with me.  I just don't get the whole "it can be upsetting" thing.  We don't say that about other things, right?  Obviously, I don't know if you have it, but since you are concerned, you should get tested.  Make sure you get a type specific IgG herpes blood test.

Please don't let that study released today freak you out.  For many years, its been that 1 in 4 (or 5, depending on your source) women have hsv 2,  1 in 11 men have hsv2, and about 30-50% of all new genital herpes infections are type 1 from oral sex.

I realize this news is a shock to many people, and if it encourages testing, that's great, but its not a big revelation to many in this field.

Aj