[Question #11291] hpv scared
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15 months ago
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Hello Doctor Hunter,
I am a man (/married). It has been almost 9 months since my only encounter with a sex worker on 01-08-2023 (protected sex). Currently, I have no symptoms.
One month after the encounter, I asked the escort to get tested. The HPV DNA test came back negative for 12 types (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68), and the smear for malignancy and lesions was negative.
My wife: smear test on 08.11.2023, negative. HPV genotyping test twice on 16.01.2023, negative.
Me: I've been tested twice. On 10.01.2024, HPV PCR genotyping test for 21 types, negative, and urine HPV negative. On 11.01.2024, the doctor at the laboratory took samples for HPV genotyping test from oral and urethral areas for 100 types, and the result was negative.
Doctor, now that we both tested negative, does this guarantee that neither I nor my wife have HPV? It's said to be very common even in deceased women. I have only one partner, and I won't engage with anyone else. Will either of us develop HPV in the future?
If an HPV test is done 1 month or 4 months after a suspicious encounter and yields a negative result, should the test be repeated after a certain period? Is there a specific timeframe? Maybe like an incubation period, perhaps dormant and not yet detected in the test.
So, doctor, how many weeks does it take for this virus to show up in the test? How do you evaluate this, doctor?
Also, neither I nor my wife have had any warts for 9 months. How long does it take for warts to appear, doctor? Have we been infected with HPV? I'm scared.
I am a man (/married). It has been almost 9 months since my only encounter with a sex worker on 01-08-2023 (protected sex). Currently, I have no symptoms.
One month after the encounter, I asked the escort to get tested. The HPV DNA test came back negative for 12 types (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68), and the smear for malignancy and lesions was negative.
My wife: smear test on 08.11.2023, negative. HPV genotyping test twice on 16.01.2023, negative.
Me: I've been tested twice. On 10.01.2024, HPV PCR genotyping test for 21 types, negative, and urine HPV negative. On 11.01.2024, the doctor at the laboratory took samples for HPV genotyping test from oral and urethral areas for 100 types, and the result was negative.
Doctor, now that we both tested negative, does this guarantee that neither I nor my wife have HPV? It's said to be very common even in deceased women. I have only one partner, and I won't engage with anyone else. Will either of us develop HPV in the future?
If an HPV test is done 1 month or 4 months after a suspicious encounter and yields a negative result, should the test be repeated after a certain period? Is there a specific timeframe? Maybe like an incubation period, perhaps dormant and not yet detected in the test.
So, doctor, how many weeks does it take for this virus to show up in the test? How do you evaluate this, doctor?
Also, neither I nor my wife have had any warts for 9 months. How long does it take for warts to appear, doctor? Have we been infected with HPV? I'm scared.
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15 months ago
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"Escort's HPV Document:
Application Date: 23.09.16
Report Date: 23.09.21
Clinical Findings/Preliminary Diagnosis/Diagnosis: Investigation of the likelihood of high-risk HPV
Material Type: Swab
Microorganism Investigated: High-risk HPV types, including those classified as Class 1 carcinogens (types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59) and type 68 classified as Class 2A carcinogen.
Method Used: Next-generation sequencing analysis
Results 1,2: High-risk HPV DNA (-) Negative
Interpretation: High-risk HPV was not detected in this study."
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15 months ago
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If the escort doesn't have HPV but there's a mild infection, and if the test kits couldn't detect it, could HPV still be transmitted to me? Does the doctor check the vulva and mucosa for warts during the smear test?
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15 months ago
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I forgot to mention: The doctor didn't perform HPV genotyping; they only looked at high-risk types. With 40 types available, why did they only check 13?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
15 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your confidence in our services.
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You have rather seriously overreacted to a very low risk of a new HPV infection in you or your wife; and to the trivial consequences if it actually happened. Getting and having (forever) genital HPV is a normal, expected, unavoidable consequence of human sexuality. In the off chance your wife someday has a positive HPV test in conjunction with her routine Pap smears, or if a Pap smear is abnormal, it would much more likely be due to a distant past infection that reactivated, and not a new one on account of your single extramarital sexual exposure.
I'm also rather amazed your escort partner agreed to be tested when you asked -- most would not do so, and there was no justification for it. But in any case, her negative results make it unlikely you were exposed. Testing of sexually active males for genital HPV is not recommended by the large majority of STI experts -- but your negative results somewhat reduce the chance you currently have an active genital HPV infection. Further, although condoms aren't perfect prevention against HPV, using a condom further reduced your low risk of infection from a single sexual event.
I would assume that there are technological or cost limitations on testing for 40 or more HPV types, and that the tests you describe are for the 13 types most commonly cause HPV related cancers and pre-cancerous cellular changes.
Do the negative results prove neither you nor your wife has HPV? No, they do not. As I said above, acquiring and having genital HPV is normal and expected; 90% of all people are infected at one time or another, often several times -- you can assume you or your wife might have HPV, assuming you both have had normal sexual experiences (i.e. a few other sex partners before you and she committed to one another). A negative test only reduces the likelihood of an active infection at the time of testing, but does not rule out a dormant HPV infection.
Most genital warts appear within a few months of exposure, but in any case the chance of warts after any single sexual exposure is very low.
All in all, I don't think you should be at all worried about genital HPV on account of the sexual exposure you have described.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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15 months ago
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"I didn't fully understand this. What exactly did you mean by this?"
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
15 months ago
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I'm sorry, but I don't understand YOUR comment. What do you not understand? I do not know how I could state these things more clearly. This was my opening statement. The rest of my comments explain in more detail.
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From your email address, English might be a second language for you. Is that the problem?
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15 months ago
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In your correspondence, you described it as if I already had HPV We have never tested positive for HPV before, and we have never had any warts, but it's described as if we have tested positive before in what you wrote.
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15 months ago
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If HPV tests, like HIV tests, don't give definite results, then I might have the possibility of being HPV positive in the future. Should I worry about this? Because I'm experiencing a lot of anxiety and fear, and I'm very worried about my spouse. I made a mistake for the first time in 12 years, and I'm afraid my spouse will die because of me."
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
15 months ago
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So you're Turkish, right? (I deleted the statement in Turkish.)
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"We have never tested positive for HPV before, and we have never had any warts, but it's described as if we have tested positive before in what you wrote." As I suspected, you did not understand. I knew you never tested positive and that you never had a diagnosed HPV infection. However, if you have had an average sex life, with at least a few different sex partners before your marriage, probably you have had HPV. At least 80-90% of people acquire HIV within their first few partners. The same for your wife: if she (or he) also had other partners in the past, probably she was infected. Or if you had an undiagnosed HPV infection, she could have caught it from you.
Most important to your current concerns, there was no possibility you acquired another HPV infection from the sexual exposure described and there was no need for you to be tested for it, and no need to ask your escort partner to be tested.
"If HPV tests, like HIV tests, don't give definite results, then I might have the possibility of being HPV positive in the future." Correct: this is true of almost all sexually active people.
"Should I worry about this?" No, you should not. Probably neither you nor your wife will ever have a positive test or any medical problem from HPV.
"I'm experiencing a lot of anxiety and fear, and I'm very worried about my spouse." There is no rational reason to be anxious or worried about HPV, for either yourself or your spouse.
The main problem here is not HPV or any other STI. It is your anxiety and apparent guilt and shame over a sexual decision you regret. Deal with that as you need to -- maybe get counseling? or discuss with your spouse? But do not confuse those feelings with infection risk, for HPV or any other STI. They are not the same.
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15 months ago
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I was sexually active as a man 16 years ago, and I visited escorts in the Netherlands, six times. But that was 16 years ago, and I'm the first man for my wife, she hasn't been with anyone else before. Additionally, my wife underwent HPV DNA and smear tests for the first time, 16 years after our relationship began, and the result was negative. Although these tests aren't typically done for men, they are performed in Turkey, sampling from the inside of the penis and mucosa. I've had the test done twice, and it came back negative. The test done on the escort also came back negative, and she confirmed that I didn't have warts
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15 months ago
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In fact, three of us tested negative, which is a good outcome, but I'm afraid this might change. I don't want to be HPV positive in the future. Maybe I will be, I don't know. My wife will undergo the test again this month, and if it comes back negative, will the result remain lifelong?
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15 months ago
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I also got an HIV test for myself. Six months after intercourse, Western Blot was negative, HIV RNA PCR was negative, and ELFA system Vidas antigen-antibody for HIV 1/2 was negative. The test done on the escort for HIV RNA PCR and ELFA HIV 1/2 antigen-antibody six months later also came back negative, and I convinced my wife to get tested after 8 months, and she tested negative as well. Should I close the HIV case, doctor?"
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15 months ago
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"Actually, all the tests conducted on both me and the escort turned out negative. I've had tests done for myself and for her, including urine test, herpes, syphilis, HSV, HIV, HPV, gonorrhea, hepatitis, and many more. They all came back clean, according to the doctor. However, due to the complexity of HPV and the information I gathered from the internet, I haven't been able to shake off the HPV issue from my mind."
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
15 months ago
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"I was sexually active etc...." With this sexual history, you can safely assume you were infected with HPV, maybe several times, regardless of your negative HPV test results. Thanks for the info about HPV testing in Turkey. I have to assume that profit for labs and physicians is the main reason for such a policy.
"I also got an HIV test...." These results make it 100% certain you do not have HIV.
That concludes this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful and that you will stop worrying about HPV!
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