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A Question about HPV strains
Hi, I recently broke up with my girlfriend who had HPV. She told me that the strain she contracted had caused genital warts to appear. She only had them once and that was close to 2 years ago.
We had unprotected sex a little over 3 months ago, and I have had no symptoms what so ever. I know I must have it, but my question is could the strain she had not affect me at all? And in the future if I engage in sexual activites will my partner (A Female) get genital warts even though I myself did not?
We had unprotected sex a little over 3 months ago, and I have had no symptoms what so ever. I know I must have it, but my question is could the strain she had not affect me at all? And in the future if I engage in sexual activites will my partner (A Female) get genital warts even though I myself did not?
Pretty much completly agree with everything you have said and i think this is a great tool which people can use for any questions which they may have.
Only thing, saying you should not share towels, i think this would be slightly extreme as HPV dies almost instantly on any surface. There is a 'perfect senario' where this could happen but is extremly unluckly.
Apart from that i thank you for a great message :)
Only thing, saying you should not share towels, i think this would be slightly extreme as HPV dies almost instantly on any surface. There is a 'perfect senario' where this could happen but is extremly unluckly.
Apart from that i thank you for a great message :)
***Since this is an old forum post (and probably long-since resolved), I am going to provide a general purpose answer that might benefit other readers with similar concerns. Each person will have to reinterpret the recommendations to fit their own timeline/circumstances:
Common Question: "I had unprotected sex with someone 3 months ago who found out she had genital warts. Can I pass it on to someone else even if I have no symptoms?"
The oversimplified answer is, YES, you could pass the virus on to a partner even if you have never had an outbreak. The medical community is all over the map on this stuff, and I don't think they really understand it very well, yet, frankly. Here's the impression I get based on personal experience, study, and interviews with former sufferers. (In the short run, it's a real pain, but in the long run, it shouldn't be a problem for your sex life at all):
Buy yourself a light-up, magnifying make-up mirror to inspect yourself for warts on a regular basis. Warts can remain very small with some people and are often the same color as your skin. (Personally, I think this explains a lot of that so-called, "non-outbreak" transmission. It's not that the warts aren't there, it's just that they're hard to see.) To help distinguish the warts from your normal healthy tissue, swab some apple cider vinegar on your genitals and surrounding area with a cotton ball and allow it to dry. This should turn any warts that may be present whitish, so you can see them a little better.
You are still at high risk for an outbreak for 9 months after your exposure to someone else's warts. Do NOT have intercourse of ANY kind with anyone during this time (unless you're a jerk who doesn't care what havoc he wreaks on others, in which case you could actually be criminally liable for any harm caused). Barrier methods only protect the receiver internally because external genitalia and nearby skin still come into contact with each other. Any skin to skin STD such as hpv and herpes can be passed this way, so it's better not to risk it when you could still be on the verge of experiencing an outbreak at any moment. (Oh, yeah, and keep your bathroom sanitary, don't share towels -- that sort of thing.)
You will be most "contagious" for the first two years after your exposure to the virus. Between the 9 - 24 months after exposure, use a barrier method for sex and DISCUSS it with your partner ahead of time. If your partner is female, she should visit a gynocologist prior to your first encounter to make sure she doesn't have any latent bacterial or yeast infections that could compromise her immunity and make her more susceptible to expressing the virus. Any infection they discover MUST be resolved before intimate contact occurs. (It's for this reason that I am actually against the use of spermicides like non-oxynol 9. They screw up a woman's pH balance and kill EVERYTHING -- including friendly flora -- leaving her body open to bacterial infections like vaginosis that may become chronic.) Also, be considerate, and don't screw around with her when she is ill or not feeling well. Strong immunity is key to resisting viral infection as well as wart outbreaks.
When the two (or three, or whatever) of you DO have sex, make sure that the condoms are nicely lubricated throughout the event and that you do not chafe her vaginal tissue with too much friction or puncture/scratch her skin with your nails during fingerplay (again, I would recommend vinyl gloves for this as well to avoid skin to skin transmission). Healthy, intact skin is an important part of our immune system's defenses. Broken skin allows the virus to "take root" more easily. Encourage your partner to shower immediately afterwards with a gentle cleanser and warm water. ALSO, be sure to do a thorough inspection of yourself (per the magnifying light up mirror method) on the same day prior to when you plan to have sex, because warts can crop up literally overnight, and when a wart is present is when you are most likely to pass it to someone else in a way that causes them an outbreak.
If you follow this protocol as strictly as I've outlined it here, there should be no need, whatsoever, for either you or your partner(s) to worry about you passing on the virus. (In fact, if I you're being this careful, and your partner DOES get a wart outbreak, I'd be more inclined to wonder if she was cheating on you than anything else.)
If you still have had no evidence of a single outbreak after two years of this highly cautious behavior, I believe you could engage in non-barrier sex without any worry whatsoever about infecting your partner with genital HPV. (It takes about that long for the virus to go completely "dormant". My translation: it takes 2 years for your body to get rid of the small warts you can't see, like those that hide inside the urethra. After that, it's pretty much like not having the virus at all.) You should still inspect your genitals regularly for life (as should we all), just in case something happens down the road to really compromise your immune system allowing the latent virus to express itself at last. It should be noted, that instances of this are extremely rare, and I believe have more to do with people being re-infected by a recent exposure than the recurrence of an old virus.
The main problem with sorting out STD infection data is that everyone lies about the regretful risks they've taken in their sex life, and even doctors don't like to think about anything that triggers their own hang-ups and fears. I've observed a lot of "spaciness" and avoidance, even among clinicians, when trying to discuss the practical details of STD transmission.
In summary: With only 3 months since your exposure, you are not out of the woods yet in terms of an outbreak, so be very careful about skin to skin contact of your genital area with any romantic interests for at least the next 6 mos. (In other words it can take up to 9 months to show outward symptoms.) Inspect yourself very closely on a weekly basis and any time you plan on getting intimate with someone. Make sure your partners are completely healthy before risking penetrative sex. Use condoms religiously for at least the next 2 years. Finally, look on the bright side, this little wake-up call may have inadvertently spared you from something worse by forcing you to tighten up your safe sex practices. :)
Signed,
A Trained Sex Health Educator
Common Question: "I had unprotected sex with someone 3 months ago who found out she had genital warts. Can I pass it on to someone else even if I have no symptoms?"
The oversimplified answer is, YES, you could pass the virus on to a partner even if you have never had an outbreak. The medical community is all over the map on this stuff, and I don't think they really understand it very well, yet, frankly. Here's the impression I get based on personal experience, study, and interviews with former sufferers. (In the short run, it's a real pain, but in the long run, it shouldn't be a problem for your sex life at all):
Buy yourself a light-up, magnifying make-up mirror to inspect yourself for warts on a regular basis. Warts can remain very small with some people and are often the same color as your skin. (Personally, I think this explains a lot of that so-called, "non-outbreak" transmission. It's not that the warts aren't there, it's just that they're hard to see.) To help distinguish the warts from your normal healthy tissue, swab some apple cider vinegar on your genitals and surrounding area with a cotton ball and allow it to dry. This should turn any warts that may be present whitish, so you can see them a little better.
You are still at high risk for an outbreak for 9 months after your exposure to someone else's warts. Do NOT have intercourse of ANY kind with anyone during this time (unless you're a jerk who doesn't care what havoc he wreaks on others, in which case you could actually be criminally liable for any harm caused). Barrier methods only protect the receiver internally because external genitalia and nearby skin still come into contact with each other. Any skin to skin STD such as hpv and herpes can be passed this way, so it's better not to risk it when you could still be on the verge of experiencing an outbreak at any moment. (Oh, yeah, and keep your bathroom sanitary, don't share towels -- that sort of thing.)
You will be most "contagious" for the first two years after your exposure to the virus. Between the 9 - 24 months after exposure, use a barrier method for sex and DISCUSS it with your partner ahead of time. If your partner is female, she should visit a gynocologist prior to your first encounter to make sure she doesn't have any latent bacterial or yeast infections that could compromise her immunity and make her more susceptible to expressing the virus. Any infection they discover MUST be resolved before intimate contact occurs. (It's for this reason that I am actually against the use of spermicides like non-oxynol 9. They screw up a woman's pH balance and kill EVERYTHING -- including friendly flora -- leaving her body open to bacterial infections like vaginosis that may become chronic.) Also, be considerate, and don't screw around with her when she is ill or not feeling well. Strong immunity is key to resisting viral infection as well as wart outbreaks.
When the two (or three, or whatever) of you DO have sex, make sure that the condoms are nicely lubricated throughout the event and that you do not chafe her vaginal tissue with too much friction or puncture/scratch her skin with your nails during fingerplay (again, I would recommend vinyl gloves for this as well to avoid skin to skin transmission). Healthy, intact skin is an important part of our immune system's defenses. Broken skin allows the virus to "take root" more easily. Encourage your partner to shower immediately afterwards with a gentle cleanser and warm water. ALSO, be sure to do a thorough inspection of yourself (per the magnifying light up mirror method) on the same day prior to when you plan to have sex, because warts can crop up literally overnight, and when a wart is present is when you are most likely to pass it to someone else in a way that causes them an outbreak.
If you follow this protocol as strictly as I've outlined it here, there should be no need, whatsoever, for either you or your partner(s) to worry about you passing on the virus. (In fact, if I you're being this careful, and your partner DOES get a wart outbreak, I'd be more inclined to wonder if she was cheating on you than anything else.)
If you still have had no evidence of a single outbreak after two years of this highly cautious behavior, I believe you could engage in non-barrier sex without any worry whatsoever about infecting your partner with genital HPV. (It takes about that long for the virus to go completely "dormant". My translation: it takes 2 years for your body to get rid of the small warts you can't see, like those that hide inside the urethra. After that, it's pretty much like not having the virus at all.) You should still inspect your genitals regularly for life (as should we all), just in case something happens down the road to really compromise your immune system allowing the latent virus to express itself at last. It should be noted, that instances of this are extremely rare, and I believe have more to do with people being re-infected by a recent exposure than the recurrence of an old virus.
The main problem with sorting out STD infection data is that everyone lies about the regretful risks they've taken in their sex life, and even doctors don't like to think about anything that triggers their own hang-ups and fears. I've observed a lot of "spaciness" and avoidance, even among clinicians, when trying to discuss the practical details of STD transmission.
In summary: With only 3 months since your exposure, you are not out of the woods yet in terms of an outbreak, so be very careful about skin to skin contact of your genital area with any romantic interests for at least the next 6 mos. (In other words it can take up to 9 months to show outward symptoms.) Inspect yourself very closely on a weekly basis and any time you plan on getting intimate with someone. Make sure your partners are completely healthy before risking penetrative sex. Use condoms religiously for at least the next 2 years. Finally, look on the bright side, this little wake-up call may have inadvertently spared you from something worse by forcing you to tighten up your safe sex practices. :)
Signed,
A Trained Sex Health Educator
Also may I clarify my last question by also adding that I will NEVER have unprotected sex again so as not to make the same mistake again....
You are reading content posted in the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Community
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