Can the same hpv infection come back years later?

[Jdilla90]

I got genital warts about 5 years ago I had a doctor freeze them off. I never had any recurrence of genital warts until recently. Do you think it's the same infection i had from 5 years ago or did I possibly get infected again with a different kind of hpv?

[veryworried420]

Unless you didn't have sex in 5 years, it could be old or new. The only way to tell is for your doctor to send one of the warts to a lab and does a biopsy to compare the strains. If your original warts were not sent for biopsy, then you won't know. Some doctors say that the strain number does not matter. They are correct unless the warts return years later. Then it matters.  Always request a biopsy of one wart and get the strain number.

Having said all this, the odds are always better that its a new strain but this cannot be proven.

[veryworried420]

Unless you didn't have sex in 5 years, it could be old or new. The only way to tell is for your doctor to send one of the warts to a lab and does a biopsy to compare the strains. If your original warts were not sent for biopsy, then you won't know. Some doctors say that the strain number does not matter. They are correct unless the warts return years later. Then it matters.  Always request a biopsy of one wart and get the strain number.

Having said all this, the odds are always better that is is a new infection (new strain) but as I wrote above, it is impossible to prove it.