Aa
can hpv spread through fingering
hi,
i have high risk hpv but my current boyfrriend is hpv free. is it possible tht he could get it by fingering me. and is there any way to have a sexual life with my boyfriend since im infected and hes not. i dont want to use condoms coz there r still chances. thnkx
This discussion is related to HPV and Fingering.
i have high risk hpv but my current boyfrriend is hpv free. is it possible tht he could get it by fingering me. and is there any way to have a sexual life with my boyfriend since im infected and hes not. i dont want to use condoms coz there r still chances. thnkx
This discussion is related to HPV and Fingering.
COMMUNITY LEADER
No, I don't think its likely. Most HPV infections clear within 2 years, and most likely, by the time she has another pap, it will have cleared, and she'd never know she had it.
I think you are worrying too much. I understand you are feeling guilty, but guilt doesn't equal risk.
How old are you? I'm 40, and we didn't get a lot of info about HPV, but back then, we had no idea how prevalent it was. And if you are close to my age lol, don't call your wife "middle aged" to her face. She won't like it lol. ;)
Aj
I think you are worrying too much. I understand you are feeling guilty, but guilt doesn't equal risk.
How old are you? I'm 40, and we didn't get a lot of info about HPV, but back then, we had no idea how prevalent it was. And if you are close to my age lol, don't call your wife "middle aged" to her face. She won't like it lol. ;)
Aj
Thanks for your sympathetic reply. I understand that you can't really say one way or the other, but at least you agree there is a chance. Unfortunately people in my generation don't usually know about hpv - it was all about HIV and condoms when I was young. If only I had known about hpv and what it could lead to I would never ever have strayed, under any circumstances. Unfortunately I had someone (similar age) telling me 'go on, put one of these on and nothing can happen to you'. Now, eight months on, my life is a living hell, waiting, although it's nothing compared to what my partner may have to go through.
One last question - where I live, the pap tests in this age group are only once in three years. If we're lucky, and she has a normal pap, is it likely she would have an abnormal one later? In which case, I should see that she goes in a years' time?
Many thanks
One last question - where I live, the pap tests in this age group are only once in three years. If we're lucky, and she has a normal pap, is it likely she would have an abnormal one later? In which case, I should see that she goes in a years' time?
Many thanks
COMMUNITY LEADER
We don't know enough about digital transmission. All we know at this point is that HPV can be found under the fingernails in some people, but we don't even know if there is enough of the virus to transmit, if the HPV cells are in a condition to transmit under the nails, etc.
Your wife being middle-aged doesn't mean anything about clearing it - age has nothing to do with it.
I'm sure its hard not waiting for the bomb to drop, but we really don't have enough info here to say either way. I think you can hope for the best. :)
Aj
Your wife being middle-aged doesn't mean anything about clearing it - age has nothing to do with it.
I'm sure its hard not waiting for the bomb to drop, but we really don't have enough info here to say either way. I think you can hope for the best. :)
Aj
Dear Auntie Jessie and Friend
My apologies for not thanking you for such a helpful reply. I didn't want to reply until I had taken further tests. I am based in Europe, where it is possible to have cytobrush etc tests for HPV. The only place they could find it was on the finger tips - the genital area had no trace of infection.
At first I was very pleased when I found the infection was absent from the genital area, since this to me meant that the traces on the fingers were not strong enough to transfer the infection to myself and therefore not to my partner either. However one doctor told me that I could not have transferred it from my fingers to my genitals because I would already have antibodies from the finger infection. He said however that it was much easier for the infection to go from genitals to fingers than vice versa so that I wouldn't have transferred it. Another doctor was more careful, saying only that I would be very unlucky to have transferred it this way. A nurse was blunter - she said that would almost certainly have given it to her. Two other doctors were unsure. I know Dr HHH argues strongly against the likelhood of digital-genital transmission but he also says that it is unliely in either direction, and unfortunately I have learnt that it can go from a partner's genitals to fingers. Why am I so obsessed with this? Sadly I the partner I fear having given it to is a much loved spouse of more than decades, who I let down in one stupid drunken incident. If she got it, it may be difficult to clear because she is in middle age. She is going for a pap test soon - I am just wondering whether to prepare myself for the worst or whether there is a fair chance that finger-genital transmission did not take place (there were around four instances of finger contact before I realised the potential risk and stopped).
Thanks for your help, and grateful for any further opinion you can give.
My apologies for not thanking you for such a helpful reply. I didn't want to reply until I had taken further tests. I am based in Europe, where it is possible to have cytobrush etc tests for HPV. The only place they could find it was on the finger tips - the genital area had no trace of infection.
At first I was very pleased when I found the infection was absent from the genital area, since this to me meant that the traces on the fingers were not strong enough to transfer the infection to myself and therefore not to my partner either. However one doctor told me that I could not have transferred it from my fingers to my genitals because I would already have antibodies from the finger infection. He said however that it was much easier for the infection to go from genitals to fingers than vice versa so that I wouldn't have transferred it. Another doctor was more careful, saying only that I would be very unlucky to have transferred it this way. A nurse was blunter - she said that would almost certainly have given it to her. Two other doctors were unsure. I know Dr HHH argues strongly against the likelhood of digital-genital transmission but he also says that it is unliely in either direction, and unfortunately I have learnt that it can go from a partner's genitals to fingers. Why am I so obsessed with this? Sadly I the partner I fear having given it to is a much loved spouse of more than decades, who I let down in one stupid drunken incident. If she got it, it may be difficult to clear because she is in middle age. She is going for a pap test soon - I am just wondering whether to prepare myself for the worst or whether there is a fair chance that finger-genital transmission did not take place (there were around four instances of finger contact before I realised the potential risk and stopped).
Thanks for your help, and grateful for any further opinion you can give.
COMMUNITY LEADER
I'm confused now. You got the gardasil shots when you have high risk hpv? It must have been a past infection because you aren't supposed to get the shots with an active infection.
If you've had sex with your bf with hpv, then he's already been exposed.
Aj
If you've had sex with your bf with hpv, then he's already been exposed.
Aj
hi,
thnkx for the info. so my bf might be infected with hpv under his nails. whenever he fingers me he washes it rightaway and in 1 yrs he fingered mw only 3 -4 times. hes 34 yrs old. and i had high risk HPV before i met him. plz i really wanna knw coz i dont want ne thing bad to happen to him . ive already gotten the 3 gardisil shots. i'd appreciate with any info possible.thnks
thnkx for the info. so my bf might be infected with hpv under his nails. whenever he fingers me he washes it rightaway and in 1 yrs he fingered mw only 3 -4 times. hes 34 yrs old. and i had high risk HPV before i met him. plz i really wanna knw coz i dont want ne thing bad to happen to him . ive already gotten the 3 gardisil shots. i'd appreciate with any info possible.thnks
COMMUNITY LEADER
I had my friend read your post, and this is her reply:
Hi there,
So before we get started with the nitty gritty - let's deal with the real meat of the issue here. You wrote that you feel like you may have condemned your girlfriend to DEATH with a moment's stupidity.
Nothing could be further from the truth. High-risk HPV is a common and widespread phenomenon. The vast majority of women who become infected with high-risk HPV clear the virus on their own. A small number require a fairly minor treatment to help the body clear the virus. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease! So if your partner has in fact been infected (from you or from someone else) she need only take her health into her own hands, and ensure that she gets regular pap smears, and follows through with any follow ups from abnormal pap results. So *if* you infect, or have infected your partner, you are NOT condemning her to death, you are rather participating in a process that the majority of the population takes part in by accepting some of the unavoidable risks of being sexually active.
So now the nitty-gritty. How my fine friend have you managed to get both your genitals and fingers tested for HPV? Are you participating in a medical study? Although the medical capacity is present for such testing there is no commercially available test for such procedures. Without knowing the methods used for the tests I couldn't say whether at 3 months post exposure the test would have picked up an infection.
Unfortunately at the current time little is known about transferring HPV via fingers/fingernails. We do know that HPV can be transmitted through mutual masturbation, where there is genital-hand-genital play. It is possible that the virus can be transferred from an infected hand to uninfected genitals, but there really just aren't studies out there right now to give us a good sense of how likely that is. If I were you I'd invest in a fingernail brush and increase my fingernail hygiene by giving under my nails a good scrub twice a day. Then there will be less infected cells hanging around the area, and I would think, (although I have nothing to back me up in this opinion) that that would really lower the risk of passing on the virus, particularly through casual contact.
Again the real bottom line here is that you need to stop thinking of yourself as a walking death threat. This is an extremely common virus. You don't have control over getting it, and you don't really have much control over whether you pass it on. So, take the obvious precautions, hygiene, and condoms, maybe avoid having her suck on your fingers...and then RELAX.
Cheers!
-gfc
Hi there,
So before we get started with the nitty gritty - let's deal with the real meat of the issue here. You wrote that you feel like you may have condemned your girlfriend to DEATH with a moment's stupidity.
Nothing could be further from the truth. High-risk HPV is a common and widespread phenomenon. The vast majority of women who become infected with high-risk HPV clear the virus on their own. A small number require a fairly minor treatment to help the body clear the virus. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease! So if your partner has in fact been infected (from you or from someone else) she need only take her health into her own hands, and ensure that she gets regular pap smears, and follows through with any follow ups from abnormal pap results. So *if* you infect, or have infected your partner, you are NOT condemning her to death, you are rather participating in a process that the majority of the population takes part in by accepting some of the unavoidable risks of being sexually active.
So now the nitty-gritty. How my fine friend have you managed to get both your genitals and fingers tested for HPV? Are you participating in a medical study? Although the medical capacity is present for such testing there is no commercially available test for such procedures. Without knowing the methods used for the tests I couldn't say whether at 3 months post exposure the test would have picked up an infection.
Unfortunately at the current time little is known about transferring HPV via fingers/fingernails. We do know that HPV can be transmitted through mutual masturbation, where there is genital-hand-genital play. It is possible that the virus can be transferred from an infected hand to uninfected genitals, but there really just aren't studies out there right now to give us a good sense of how likely that is. If I were you I'd invest in a fingernail brush and increase my fingernail hygiene by giving under my nails a good scrub twice a day. Then there will be less infected cells hanging around the area, and I would think, (although I have nothing to back me up in this opinion) that that would really lower the risk of passing on the virus, particularly through casual contact.
Again the real bottom line here is that you need to stop thinking of yourself as a walking death threat. This is an extremely common virus. You don't have control over getting it, and you don't really have much control over whether you pass it on. So, take the obvious precautions, hygiene, and condoms, maybe avoid having her suck on your fingers...and then RELAX.
Cheers!
-gfc
COMMUNITY LEADER
Andy,
How are you getting your fingers tested? I've not heard of that test.
I've also not heard of any commercially available, reliable hpv tests for men.
I think that if you have it under your nails, then you've already exposed your gf to it. She will either get it or not, but she's already exposed. This probably won't make you feel one bit better, but if she didn't get it from you, she probably would from someone else.
I'm going to ask a friend of mine about this, and I'll let you know what she says. She's a wealth of info on HPV.
Aj
How are you getting your fingers tested? I've not heard of that test.
I've also not heard of any commercially available, reliable hpv tests for men.
I think that if you have it under your nails, then you've already exposed your gf to it. She will either get it or not, but she's already exposed. This probably won't make you feel one bit better, but if she didn't get it from you, she probably would from someone else.
I'm going to ask a friend of mine about this, and I'll let you know what she says. She's a wealth of info on HPV.
Aj
You are always so helpful, can I ask you some questions that I have had trouble getting clear answers to?
I have had one exposure to high risk HPV. I was protected by a condom and later tested negative for all types of hpv in two separate (male) urethral swab tests. However I did also use fingers, which I had thought involved no risk. Now, when I had my fingers tested, high risk DNA was found on the finger tips/under the fingernails.
Questions:
I. If I had contracted HPV on the outside of the penis, would this not have shown up in the swab tests taken from the urethral opening, given that these were 3 months after exposure? (i.e. would I need to have swabs of the outside too? - I'd rather not, I've had too many tests already).
2. If the hpv traces on my fingers were enough to transfer the infection, wouldn't I have transferred it to myself?. If so, wouldn't it have been detected in the swab tests of the urethral opening?
3. Is there really a danger of infecting others through casual contact with my infected hand (e.g. through holding hands)?
4. I have since used fingers with my regular partner on a small number of occasions, before I realised there was a risk. Is it likely that I could have passed the virus from my hand to her genitals by this route?
My impression is that it is much easier to catch the virus on your hands from contact with genitals than to transmit it from you hands to another's genitals. Do you agree? One doctor I asked supports this view, another told me that it coul be passed even by shaking hands.
My concern in all this is with my regular partner. When this incident occurred six months ago I had never even heard of HPV. Now I feel as though I have condemned her to death through one moment's stupidity. If only taking my own life would help, I would do it without hesitation, I feel so ashamed.
My only optimism lies in the possibility that the high risk DNA is only on my hand, since only the hand engaged in unprotecte activity during that exposure, and if it's only on my hand I may not necessarily have passed it to my partner, even when I used the same fingers. It's a long shot, but it's all I've got.
I have had one exposure to high risk HPV. I was protected by a condom and later tested negative for all types of hpv in two separate (male) urethral swab tests. However I did also use fingers, which I had thought involved no risk. Now, when I had my fingers tested, high risk DNA was found on the finger tips/under the fingernails.
Questions:
I. If I had contracted HPV on the outside of the penis, would this not have shown up in the swab tests taken from the urethral opening, given that these were 3 months after exposure? (i.e. would I need to have swabs of the outside too? - I'd rather not, I've had too many tests already).
2. If the hpv traces on my fingers were enough to transfer the infection, wouldn't I have transferred it to myself?. If so, wouldn't it have been detected in the swab tests of the urethral opening?
3. Is there really a danger of infecting others through casual contact with my infected hand (e.g. through holding hands)?
4. I have since used fingers with my regular partner on a small number of occasions, before I realised there was a risk. Is it likely that I could have passed the virus from my hand to her genitals by this route?
My impression is that it is much easier to catch the virus on your hands from contact with genitals than to transmit it from you hands to another's genitals. Do you agree? One doctor I asked supports this view, another told me that it coul be passed even by shaking hands.
My concern in all this is with my regular partner. When this incident occurred six months ago I had never even heard of HPV. Now I feel as though I have condemned her to death through one moment's stupidity. If only taking my own life would help, I would do it without hesitation, I feel so ashamed.
My only optimism lies in the possibility that the high risk DNA is only on my hand, since only the hand engaged in unprotecte activity during that exposure, and if it's only on my hand I may not necessarily have passed it to my partner, even when I used the same fingers. It's a long shot, but it's all I've got.
You don't want your bf to contract hpv from you but you don't want to use condoms?
If your bf applies the condom from the moment his clothes come off and doesn't just wait until actual penetration to put it on - it's been shown to reduce his risk of contracting hpv from you by 80-90% which is a significant reduction in transmission.
I believe the FDA just approved gardasil for males - not sure of your bf's age but it might also be an option for him. It isn't fully effective until after the 3rd shot but at least then you'd know that within 6 months he's be more fully protected than he is now.
i assume you had hpv before you met him?
grace
If your bf applies the condom from the moment his clothes come off and doesn't just wait until actual penetration to put it on - it's been shown to reduce his risk of contracting hpv from you by 80-90% which is a significant reduction in transmission.
I believe the FDA just approved gardasil for males - not sure of your bf's age but it might also be an option for him. It isn't fully effective until after the 3rd shot but at least then you'd know that within 6 months he's be more fully protected than he is now.
i assume you had hpv before you met him?
grace
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