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Hello Doc!

Here is my situation, a few days ago my doctor discovered 2 warts in the pubic hair region, he told me they were genital warts. They were very hard to discover, even I had not noticed them. They were sort of flat as well. He had to use a certain liquid to see them. My doctor told me it takes about a year, maybe less for the warts to show. I called up a few girls to ask them about it and this one girl kinda confessed she could have had it.

My concern is, this girl told me she had a dysplasia because of HPV. And I got really worried because I have had a steady girlfriend since then and we have had sex with condoms but sometimes without. After my girlfriend I was with 2 other women.  Does it mean my girlfriend  and these other two girls will get cancer or something like it just because this other girl had it?? I am very worried now, I do not want be responsible for something like that to happen with 3 women. I did not know I had these warts. I do not know what to do now if I cause this scenario!!

How does the hpv strains work?? If a girl has the high risk one and give it to me which turn out to be genital warts, will I transmit the high risk one to others??

Please tell me
THANK YOU

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the STD forum.  I'll try to help.  In essence, there are 3 parts to your question:  the cause of the pubic area skin lesions; whether there is any relationship to cervical dysplasia in a past sex partner; and the natural history of HPV infections ("how do HPV strains work").

First, a physician's diagnosis has to be taken seriously. However, it is uncommon for genital warts to appear in the pubic area; the penis and scrotum are much more common locations.  The clear liquid probably was acetic acid -- but that test to diagnose warts is highly unreliable.  So I'm not certain you had warts at all.  However, the rest of this reply assumes the diagnosis was correct.

Second, the HPV types that cause warts are different than the ones that cause cervical cancer or most cases of cervical dyplasia.  So even if you have warts, they probably are unrelated to your former partner's abnormal pap smear.

Finally, as to the natural history of HPV, this is a very complex issue and has been discussed previously on this forum.  A couple of brief comments only, then you'll have to do your own research.  Warts usually appear within a couple months of catching them.  If your pubic area lesions were warts, most likely they didn't appear a year after you caught them; more likely they were present for a long time before you noticed them.  Almost all HPV infections, with or without visible warts, clear up on their own within several months, sometimes up to a couple of years.  However, some infections persist indefinitely.

Most important, everybody gets genital HPV and most of us probably have several infections during our sexually active lives.  Getting genital HPV should be viewed as a normal and expected consequence of human sexuality -- not desirable, but normal.  Fortunately, the vast majority of infections never cause symptoms, never progress to cancer or any other serious outcome, and go away.  Finally, it is usually not possible to know when and where any particular HPV infection was acquired or from whom it was caught.  Your past partner's abnormal pap smear probably has nothing to do with your warts (if that's what you have).

I hope this helps.  Please use the search link and enter "HPV" and/or "genital warts" to find innumerable discussions on this forum.  Also read the information on some excellent websites, such as CDC (www.cdc.gov/std), the American Social Health Association (www.ashastd.org), and the Westover Heights Clinic of Portland, OR (www.westoverheights.com).  Please hold off on any follow-up questions until you have done that homework.

Regards--  HHH, MD

[anonymous567765]

I have been reading as much as I can in the forums before I posted a question because I feel I can not find a straight answer.

I want to know if me having genital warts (type 6,11) and I have given hpv to these girls I have been seing. Will they get a high risk type from me? or is it just random??  I dont want anyone of them to develop cancer or something...

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

You obviously haven't had time to read the information on the websites I suggested.  Do that, which will answer those questions. The bottom line is that you have no worries about your partners' health on the basis of your possible wart infection.  Entirely different HPV types cause warts versus most dysplasia.  Had you asked me ahead of time, I would have suggested you not contact your past partners, i.e. consistent with CDC advice that routine partner examination is not required or recommended for most HPV infections.