HPV and HIV

[Jimmy197515]

Hello Dr,

   I posted on here a few months ago as i had what seemed to be a wart just inside the tip of my penis.  I went to see a urologist yesterday and was told i had a condyloma,  which was then removed.

This was my fourth visit to the doctor.  On my first 2 visits i was told that there was nothing visable,  however by the 3rd visit it had increased in size.  The doctor told me that it looked like granulation as i had picked the area previously.  I made a follow up appointment yesterday and here we are!

As i was under the impression i did not have warts i have had sex twice since i noticed the mark/wart.  Both times were with women of unknown status.  I wore a condom both times but cant be sure that they did not fail as i had been drinking.  My questions are these

1.   When my doctor removed the warts he made no mention of getting them tested to find out which strain of HPV i was carrying.  Is it possible i have passed on the cancer causing strain to one of the 2 women i had sex with?

2.  If the condom had failed,  then does having condyloma increase my chances of catching HIV?  My last encounter was 3 weeks ago?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

[Jimmy197515]

Thanks very much for your reply Doctor.  It has been a stressful time but this has helped put me at ease.

I suppose it is just the location of the infection that brings out panic.  Had the wart been on my nose i would not have worried.

Thanks again.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome back to the forum.

I'm glad the diagnosis of your urethral lesion finally became clear.

Don't feel guilty or responsible for your sexual activity before the diagnosis was made.  Condoms should be highly effective in preventing infection with HPV localized in the urethra; and in any case, you can be sure women like your partners have repeatedly been exposed to wart-causing HPV strains and this particular exposure probably made no difference in their risk.

To your specific questions:

1) Warts are rarely tested for HPV type; we don't recommend or do that in my STD clinic.  The cancer-causing HPV types rarely cause warts; but even if you had a high risk (cancer causing) type, it would still make no difference in your partners' risk.  Below is a link to a thread that provides a general discussion about HPV risks, cancers, etc.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HPV-Transmission/show/1522088

2) Unlike some STDs, genital warts and HPV do not significantly increase the risk of catching HIV.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD