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Possible HPV infection - very anxious and urgent.
Hello Doctor,
I had contact with a prostitute on two separate occasions - 7 days and 2 days ago.
First meet - had a nude massage with extensive skin contact and received a "handjob". No oral sex or intercourse, but her vagina rubbed against my thigh. No contact between genitals. Second meet - similar massage. Also received oral sex with a condom on. She also licked around my scrotum area which wasn't covered and rubbed my anus with fingers (no insertion). No intercourse and no contact between genitals, but my genitals rubbed other areas of her body such as her breasts, face, stomach etc without a condom. I didn’t give oral to her.
I later learnt she was to have surgery to remove her uterus after diagnosis of cervical cancer which spread to uterus. I read that high risk HPV causes cervical cancer and is transferred through skin-to-skin contact. She claims her doctor says her HPV is dormant and cannot be transferred. I am married – I’m 31 and wife is 30. Wife is out of town and will return in next few days. My urgent questions:
1. What is your assessment about the riskiness of my contact and what are my chances of having contracted hpv based on above descriptions?
2. If I have contracted hpv, is it high-risk type since she has cervical cancer? Will I infect my wife with it? If yes, is she at risk of cervical cancer?
3. Can I do anything at all now? Can I get vaccinated if it helps?
4. Will I infect my wife if I have sex with her or through normal touch, kiss, cuddling? People say she must have had enough HPV exposure to be able to combat this. She was virgin until our marriage 2yrs ago, so she has no exposure. She also has Rheumatoid Arthritis, making her immune system weak.
5. Should I inform her and have her take a vaccine before she comes in contact with me? She is 30, are vaccines are only available for young women?
6. Supposedly, I can "clear" this infection on my own within 2 years. Meantime,am I infectious to my wife and others?
Please help!
I had contact with a prostitute on two separate occasions - 7 days and 2 days ago.
First meet - had a nude massage with extensive skin contact and received a "handjob". No oral sex or intercourse, but her vagina rubbed against my thigh. No contact between genitals. Second meet - similar massage. Also received oral sex with a condom on. She also licked around my scrotum area which wasn't covered and rubbed my anus with fingers (no insertion). No intercourse and no contact between genitals, but my genitals rubbed other areas of her body such as her breasts, face, stomach etc without a condom. I didn’t give oral to her.
I later learnt she was to have surgery to remove her uterus after diagnosis of cervical cancer which spread to uterus. I read that high risk HPV causes cervical cancer and is transferred through skin-to-skin contact. She claims her doctor says her HPV is dormant and cannot be transferred. I am married – I’m 31 and wife is 30. Wife is out of town and will return in next few days. My urgent questions:
1. What is your assessment about the riskiness of my contact and what are my chances of having contracted hpv based on above descriptions?
2. If I have contracted hpv, is it high-risk type since she has cervical cancer? Will I infect my wife with it? If yes, is she at risk of cervical cancer?
3. Can I do anything at all now? Can I get vaccinated if it helps?
4. Will I infect my wife if I have sex with her or through normal touch, kiss, cuddling? People say she must have had enough HPV exposure to be able to combat this. She was virgin until our marriage 2yrs ago, so she has no exposure. She also has Rheumatoid Arthritis, making her immune system weak.
5. Should I inform her and have her take a vaccine before she comes in contact with me? She is 30, are vaccines are only available for young women?
6. Supposedly, I can "clear" this infection on my own within 2 years. Meantime,am I infectious to my wife and others?
Please help!
Dear Dr. Handsfield:
Thank you very much for your reassurance and advice. It wasn't my intention to disregard your professional opinion; I was merely confused by the vague terminologies that were used online.
Thank you very much for your reassurance and advice. It wasn't my intention to disregard your professional opinion; I was merely confused by the vague terminologies that were used online.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Whoa, hold on! You are way overreacting. Did you even read my reply above???
You have HIV, or you will. Everybody gets it. I assume I have had several HPV infections, given my lifestyle 30 years ago. You should continue unprotected sex with your wife.
You have staph and strep on your skin, and E. coli in your intestines -- and at least several thousand more kinds of bacteria in and on your body. Sometimes these can cause serious or fatal infections -- but for the most part they are harmless. Same for various HPV strains and many other viruses.
For more details about HPV, see the thread below -- and the other threads linked in that one. And for goodness' sake, stop searching the internet for bad news!
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HPV-concerns/show/1819004
That will be all for this thread. My advice is that you suck it up and move on without worry.
You have HIV, or you will. Everybody gets it. I assume I have had several HPV infections, given my lifestyle 30 years ago. You should continue unprotected sex with your wife.
You have staph and strep on your skin, and E. coli in your intestines -- and at least several thousand more kinds of bacteria in and on your body. Sometimes these can cause serious or fatal infections -- but for the most part they are harmless. Same for various HPV strains and many other viruses.
For more details about HPV, see the thread below -- and the other threads linked in that one. And for goodness' sake, stop searching the internet for bad news!
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HPV-concerns/show/1819004
That will be all for this thread. My advice is that you suck it up and move on without worry.
Dear Doctor,
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. Although I am very relieved after reading your response, I was very stunned from reading articles on supposedly reputable sites about how HPV is extremely contagious and can be contracted from mere "skin-to-skin contact" and that the virus apparently lives on the skin of infected persons. Is all this true and if so, doesn’t that make mine a high-risk case because I had a lot of “skin to skin” contact? I don't understand the rather vague terms used online...what qualifies as "skin to skin"? Does it mean strictly genital to genital, or exchange of bodily fluids only, or does it also include non-genital naked/foreplay type contact? The term makes is sound like I could be touching someone in a crowded train or concert and come home with HPV! Regarding my specific incidents, I spoke to the woman I had the encounters with. She has already had part of her cervix taken out in a previous surgery and now it’s the uterus being removed. Her doc said her hpv is dormant. She said her doctor has inspected her already and told her that she has no warts so she can't transmit without an intercourse. Is that correct? I didn't notice any visible warts on her either, except a single one on her buttocks that appeared more like a common pimple (I may be wrong, I’m not an expert). I believe my skin DID come in contact with her bare buttocks. My wife and I often have unprotected sex and may plan to have a child sometime in the near future...can I continue to have unprotected sex with my wife or do i need to switch to condoms to protect her?
Could you please clarify the above points for me? I apologize in advance if I come across as ignorant and repetitive, but any additional information at this point will greatly give me peace. Thank you.
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. Although I am very relieved after reading your response, I was very stunned from reading articles on supposedly reputable sites about how HPV is extremely contagious and can be contracted from mere "skin-to-skin contact" and that the virus apparently lives on the skin of infected persons. Is all this true and if so, doesn’t that make mine a high-risk case because I had a lot of “skin to skin” contact? I don't understand the rather vague terms used online...what qualifies as "skin to skin"? Does it mean strictly genital to genital, or exchange of bodily fluids only, or does it also include non-genital naked/foreplay type contact? The term makes is sound like I could be touching someone in a crowded train or concert and come home with HPV! Regarding my specific incidents, I spoke to the woman I had the encounters with. She has already had part of her cervix taken out in a previous surgery and now it’s the uterus being removed. Her doc said her hpv is dormant. She said her doctor has inspected her already and told her that she has no warts so she can't transmit without an intercourse. Is that correct? I didn't notice any visible warts on her either, except a single one on her buttocks that appeared more like a common pimple (I may be wrong, I’m not an expert). I believe my skin DID come in contact with her bare buttocks. My wife and I often have unprotected sex and may plan to have a child sometime in the near future...can I continue to have unprotected sex with my wife or do i need to switch to condoms to protect her?
Could you please clarify the above points for me? I apologize in advance if I come across as ignorant and repetitive, but any additional information at this point will greatly give me peace. Thank you.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question. I was on the forum -- most users shouldn't expect such quick replies.
You describe a low risk exposure with regard to HPV. The virus is transmitted primarily by unprotected intercourse, rarely by oral sex or hand-genital contaxt.
Almost everybody gets genital HPV. If you have had a total of 3 or more sex partners in your life, you can assume you have been infected. Even if somehow you were infected, and if an HPV problem were to show up in your wife (e.g. an abnormal pap smear) you could safely assume it was an infection you acquired before your marriage. There would be no reason for her to suspect you had recent sex with anyone else, and no way for you to suspect it came from the events described above. When HPV causes warts, pre-cancerous lesions, or other symptoms, they show up an average of 6-12 months later, often as long as two years.
To your specific questions:
1) You had a nearly zero risk event for HPV and other STDs.
2) Even with high risk HPV types, the vast majority of infected people do not develop cancer.
3) There no need to do anything, and nothing that would make any difference. Immunization has no effect after exposure.
4) Even if you had HPV, you would transmit it to your wife only by vaginal or anal intercourse. Rheumatoid arthritis does not significantly increase risk of HPV or any STD.
5) There is no need to say anything to your wife.
6) It is true that if you caught HPV, it likely would clear on its own within 2 years. But I stress again that a) you probably were not infected and b) even if you were, no harm is likely to come to either you or your wife.
Bottom line: don't be worried at all. Go on with your life.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You describe a low risk exposure with regard to HPV. The virus is transmitted primarily by unprotected intercourse, rarely by oral sex or hand-genital contaxt.
Almost everybody gets genital HPV. If you have had a total of 3 or more sex partners in your life, you can assume you have been infected. Even if somehow you were infected, and if an HPV problem were to show up in your wife (e.g. an abnormal pap smear) you could safely assume it was an infection you acquired before your marriage. There would be no reason for her to suspect you had recent sex with anyone else, and no way for you to suspect it came from the events described above. When HPV causes warts, pre-cancerous lesions, or other symptoms, they show up an average of 6-12 months later, often as long as two years.
To your specific questions:
1) You had a nearly zero risk event for HPV and other STDs.
2) Even with high risk HPV types, the vast majority of infected people do not develop cancer.
3) There no need to do anything, and nothing that would make any difference. Immunization has no effect after exposure.
4) Even if you had HPV, you would transmit it to your wife only by vaginal or anal intercourse. Rheumatoid arthritis does not significantly increase risk of HPV or any STD.
5) There is no need to say anything to your wife.
6) It is true that if you caught HPV, it likely would clear on its own within 2 years. But I stress again that a) you probably were not infected and b) even if you were, no harm is likely to come to either you or your wife.
Bottom line: don't be worried at all. Go on with your life.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
