contagious?
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| Mon, 02-06-2006 - 11:27am |
I am seeing a woman who was divorced three years ago. We have not had sexual contact yet. Last night she told me that she found out her husband was cheating on her when she contracted genital warts. She says she had it treated and it has not recurred.
Now would be a good time for me to pause and line up some facts about this before going forward. I just read that there is a 60% probability of contracting genital warts from intercouse just one time.
My questions are:
1. Is this only contagious when symptoms are present?
2. If the answer to that is "no", then how contagious is it when there are no apparent symptoms?
3. Can genital warts be recurring without the person realizing it?
Obviously, no one wants to contract a sexually transmitted disease. We are not in a commited relationship yet. So, my underlying question is, should I (sorry to put this into fishing terms) just throw this one back? Or, is it possible to have a normal sexual relationship without spreading genital warts, provided intercourse does not occur when symptoms are present? I read that condoms reduce the rate of transmission. I take it oral sex is therefore out. Again, only when symptoms are present?

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Herpes
This is a tough one. I was in a similar situation about 6 years ago, when my then boyfriend told me he had once had a genital warts (HPV) breakout.
I did a lot of research and unfortunatley, there's a lot of conflicting information out there. Furthermore, for women, sometimes the warts occur internally on the cervix, so you can't really be sure whether or not she's having a breakout.
Some doctors say if you don't have a reoccurance, then the body *might* have rid itself of the body. Others say once you have the virus, it's always present, but may not cause symptoms (i.e. warts). Also, while condoms can help reduce the risk of transmission, it's not 100% effective because the virus can be anywhere on the genital region, not just on the penis.
Further research also showed that 50 to 75% of the sexually active population has some strain of HPV - whether they have warts or not. So, there's a high likelihood that people have it and don't know about it.
For me, I chose to take the risk. I was in that relationship for 5 years and neither my partner nor I ever had symptoms of HPV. I have regular check-ups and specifically request the "thin-prep" pap smears, which can detect abnormalities in the cervix that can be caused by HPV. So far - nothing.
I'm still good friends with my ex - and he's still free of any symptoms. For him, it's been about 7 1/2 years since he had a wart breakout - so it would seem he's cured - unfortunately, there's no test to be sure.
Making this decision is really a personal choice. It's possible you have HPV already and are non-symptomatic. It's possible you may have intercourse with her and never contract it. For me, the prevalence of the virus in the sexually active population, as well as the high treatability of the symptoms, lead me to make the choice to have sexual relationship with my ex. Maybe for you, you should just hold off on the sexual part of the relationship and see how it goes. If your relationship really develops over the next few months, perhaps the benefits will outweigh the potential risks.
I'm sorry I can't give you an easy answer, but I hope that helps give you some insight into the decision I made. If you have any specific questions - I'd be happy to try to answer them. Like I said, I did a fair amount of research on this and am pretty familiar with the subject.
Good Luck.
~Amber
Tish,
I think you probably mis-read the original post - but just so everyone knows
Genital herpes does NOT equal genital warts.
They are completely different viruses with completely different symptoms and treatments.
Genital warts are also known as HPV.
Just wanted to set the record straight :-)
~Amber
Human Papilloma Virus aka HPV aka genital warts aka venereal warts aren't always as serious as we make them out to be.
There is no way to test a man for HPV until it turns in to warts -- which in a man is pretty rare, although they're pretty successful in spreading the virus...you might be carrying the virus and won't even know it until you give it to a partner and her body may or may not fight it, and it may or may not show up on her next pap. It may show up on a pap and be gone at a re-pap 1 month later.
If your current partner had HPV and/or warts and was properly treated and has had at least one "normal" follow up pap her chances of ever having a recurrence are basically slim to none (unless she's re-infected by a partner). However, if she has not had at least one "normal" follow up pap after treatment for HPV encourage her to continue treatment (as deemed necessary by her Dr) and to continue following up with re-paps every few months. If she has not had a "normal" pap post treatment, have her ask her Dr about the risks of infecting you. Chances are, even if she passed the virus on to you, if you two were monogamous your body would fight it and you would not have any affects....if you aren't monogamous you'd be able to infect another woman.
HPV is VERY different than Herpes. There are no "outbreaks" and oral is OK. The greatest risk of HPV is when left untreated it can and will turn in to cervical cancer, and cervical cancer mortality rates are high. If your partner has not been treated for her HPV encourage her to do so (it is life or death) and if she has not had "normal" paps encourage her to continue working with her Dr (again, it's life or death)!
One more thing!....
Don't judge her based on this.
Chances are you've been exposed to HPV and your body fought it off.
Or if you've ever had unprotected sex you may have had it and passed it on to a partner.
It's really not that big of a deal -- except when it goes untreated.
If this was 3 years ago and she's faithful about her "annuals" and she followed her dr's recommendations for treatment then she's fine.
She won't be contagious and she won't have a recurrence, unless, of course, as I stated in the other e-mail, she's re-infected. If she was treated and has had normal paps since then she's as good as new!
(btw...I'm a PhD Nurse -- which means I have a Doctorate degree in Nursing -- this is advice you can trust!)
Just to be clear here - research shows it is not likely to pass HPV on after treatment, but it's not impossible. Here's some info from the ASHA (american sexual health association):
"Will I be able to transmit HPV after treatment?
Much remains unknown about HPV transmission when symptoms (lesions such as warts or cell changes) aren’t present, so experts cannot fully answer this question. However, studies show that in most cases a healthy immune system will be likely to clear, or suppress, HPV eventually. Some cases may persist for years and result in recurrent lesions, but this is not the norm. The bottom line is that most who have genital HPV DNA detected in research studies eventually test negative, often within a year or two.
Many researchers and clinicians do believe “subclinical” HPV (virus may be in skin cells but no lesions are present) is less likely to be transmitted than when warts or cell changes are detected, probably due to a reduced viral load, and subsequently think it is reasonable to say the chances of transmitting virus years after the last clinical episode (where lesions were detected) will become increasingly remote over time. This is not easy to prove and the lack of a solid “yes or no” answer is frustrating. Still, HPV does not seem likely to always be active."
I just want the original poster to be clear - no one can tell you 100% for sure if you will get HPV. And if you do show symptoms after having intercourse with this woman, you can't be sure you contracted it from her, since it can stay dormant in the body for so long.
I agree with this message. SO the only way to insure you will stay virus free is to abstain from any skin to skin contact (with her genital area) until you are fully committed to this relationship. In other words, until you decide if she is the one you want to devote a chunk of your life to, it is best to keep her pants zipped and your pants zipped.
CH
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