HPV Clearance Question

Doctor -
My question is does the amount of time you have active warts have anything to do with the amount of time after clearance you would recommend to someone until he/she is considered "cured."
In GV's question, he had warts for ten months and got them removed.  You told him he's probably ok after around six months but it's hard to be certain, where it seems in other questions asked on this site, that you were more confident about the six months.  Does this stem from the time he had active warts or anything else ?  Please explain.
Thanks for your time.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Data don't exist to answer your question.  Six months is my personal judgment, and I'm reasonably certain most people in GV's situation would be disease-free (and virus-free) after that time.  But nobody knows for sure.

The other thing to remember is that even if HPV persists, most people exposed to it won't ever develop a medical problem.  We all get genital HPV anyway, probably several times, during the course of a normal sex life.  So it simply isn't worth losing sleep over the occasional case when an infection is known to be present.  The fact that GV happened to be in the small minority that develops visible warts does not predict that his partner's would get overt warts if exposed.

Anyway, sorry I can't provide more specific information.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD