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men only carry virus for 1 day?

My doctor told me that she was part of a small scale study that proved that men only carry the hpv virus for a short time-- less than 24 hours (i suppose she meant "high-risk" non-wart causing strains since we obviously know men can carry wart causing strains for years). How she explained it to me was that since a man's penis is outside of the body and therefore "exposed" to air circulation the virus can only survive for a short period of time... to survive any longer it needs a warm, moist environment (like a woman's vagina)... So unless the virus finds this warm moist environment within a couple hours, it dies.
Question 1: Are there any other studies that support this claim?
Question 2: well this one isn't really a question as much as a worry.... so this means that all of us (me included) who are infected with HVP had sex with a man who had sex with another (infected) woman in the SAME DAY! i know there are some sleazebag men out there who would have sex with two different women in the same day (and i'm not denying that it could have even happened to me) but really? ALL of the thousands.. millions of women out there affected had to have had this happen to them...?
Question 3: She also claims that in her experience women can also contract the virus in non-sexual ways... swimming pool, trying on a swimsuit in a department store, sharing a towel after a bath, etc.. She says it's a virus just like the flu.. is there any evidence to support this?
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303824 tn?1294871401
Your mother in law should know better than to make comments like that!! First of all, there is no way to trace back who you got it from and trying would only be a waste of time so who in the world does she think she is saying those things? It could have very well been HER SON who gave it to you but no matter if he did or didn't, there will never be any proof of it. Anyhow, don't let it bother you, what's done is done and there's no point in letting it continue to get to you. Just do what I do when my mother in law says useless stuff to me. I just smile and say, "Uh huh, yeah, you're right" and then laugh about it with my husband XD
Helpful - 0
1067212 tn?1353960402
Okay, it kind of makes sense where her bias information came from. I don't think its right at all, she's just trying to protect her son. You aren't dirty and as a doctor she shouldn't make you feel like that, even if she is your mother in law.
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Avatar universal
thank you for your response.. it didn't sound very credible to me in the first place which is why i came here to ask for others' opinions.
The story is really a little more personal than i admitted in my original question.. My doctor is also my mother-in-law.. her claim that the virus can only survive on men's genitalia for a few hours was quickly followed with a "Therefore, it couldn't have been my son who gave it to you since he has never slept with anyone else within hours of then sleeping with you..."  It made an already difficult diagnosis, offensive also.. i felt like she was accusing me of being "dirty"... anyways i think she read the hurt and embarrassment on my face and so tried to remediate by saying i could have gotten it from something other than sexual intercourse.  Once she realized i was offended she tried to make me feel better but the damage was already done... she had given her son (who was present and heard the whole conversation) an out.. he now has his mother/doctor who says it couldn't possibly have been him. Not that I WANT it to be him that gave it me, but it honestly would have made the diagnosis a little easier to take if we "shared" it... if it were something that happened to us as a couple instead of it just being me.
yeah so that's my whole story.. a 2nd opinion is out of the question for now since i can't risk offending anyone but i will continue to keep myself objectively informed as much as possible. thanks again for your response.
Helpful - 0
1067212 tn?1353960402
I have never heard of a study like this. One because there are no tests for men and two because HPV is a virus and therefore no one will ever get rid of it so to say "men only have the virus for 24 hours" is quite insane because once you catch the virus, you then have it for life. The virus usually becomes dormant after a while but even so, the DNA will still be in your body - It'll just be undetectable.

The study was small like you say, so don't take it as something you can generalize, also without information on how it was carried out, you don't know how valid and reliable it actually is. There are other things that may influence the out come like the fact each individual person is different (another reason you can't generalize it).

As for your third question, well... doctors, nurses, professionals and information on the official websites for HPV state that you cannot get HPV through swimming pools. You can say HPV works like the flu (as it is a virus and once you have that strain you are immune from catching it again) however I can't find anything else comparable. If someone did catch it from a shower, then I'd say that case would be a single one, or there have been no known cases but theoretically it could happen.

Maybe you should ask your Dr again because I have never heard anything like this, you could also get 2nd opinions.
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