[Question #12302] HPV incubation period or how long to become contagious
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8 months ago
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I have spent a lot of time looking at answers and I have not found this information. Maybe the answer will help me or someone else.
If a person is exposed to HPV, specifically the strains that cause genital warts, how long will it take before they are contagious? Will they be contagious before warts appear?
Scenario -A man was more than likely exposed to GW 8 weeks ago from PIV sex with a woman but has not developed any visible warts. If someone gives the man oral sex, how long will it take for her to become contagious with oral HPV? Or what are the chances of her even getting it? What is the likelihood of passing it on to another person via oral sex or kissing after 2 or 3 days? After a month? Or is it only a concern if oral warts are present? All parties are unvaccinated due to age.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
8 months ago
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Welcome back. I reviewed your discussion with Dr. Hook and agree with all he advised. But I'm going to start with a perspective you might find challenging: this is a giant nothinburger in your life -- or should be. There simply are no significant health implications here. There is no realistic chance your or any future or current sex partner will have any effect from your HPV infection or warts. If somehow I were in your situation -- or, swiching genders, if I were sexually active and a potential partner in my later dating days -- I would not care and it would not be important to be sexually exposed to your HPV infection.
Please try to understand that having HPV is a normal, expected, unavoidable aspect of human sexuality. Happily the large magority of inecions cause no health problem; and when warts, abnormal pap smears, or other manifestations develop, they usually are inconsequential.
Don't get me wrong: I understand your distress at having new genital warts. But it really should be viewed as a minor inconvenience, not an important health problem for you or your current or futue partners.
Going to your specifiic questions, there are no data on time from acquiring HPV to transmissibility to partners or to onset of warts or other symptoms. Most likely, 8 weeks is probably near the earliest time, but both transmissibilty and onset of warts, abnormal paps, etc extend for years arter that. That a male exposed to a wart-causing strain of HPV has no warts in 8 weeks means little or nothing: warts could develop tomorrow or 10 years later.
Oral HPV is rare: even repeated exposure usually result in either no infection, or at least no warts or other manifestations of infection. However, almost certainly infection cannot be transmitted -- either by intercourse or oral sex -- as soon as 3 days after ex[psire.
Perhaps these comments are not as helpful as you were hoping. But I do hope they give you a helpful perspective on the situation.
HHH, MD
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8 months ago
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Thank you for your response. It really did ease my mind considerably.
But, since I paid for a question, I'm going to ask for some for information.
The man I was talking to when I got diagnosed with the wart got scared off by the diagnosis and so the relationship didn't go any further.
So now, I'm on the dating apps again, talking to a few people, and what I want to know is, if it gets to the point with someone where we are talking about sex, how I can I explain to them what you are telling me? Because it doesn't sound like a nothingburger to say that I had genital warts that cleared up but I can't guarantee that it's not contagious.
In addition, I just want to confirm that your recommendation is to wait 6 months after the wart has cleared up before having intercourse? It looks like it has shrunk a lot now (I only have one). If it comes back, and then goes away, does the 6 months start over?
Thank you for your help. I just want to know what to say and the timeline so I'm not guilty of spreading disease to anyone.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
8 months ago
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Thanks for these follow-ups. I'm sorry your potential partner bailed out on account of HPV.
Our expertise -- and mine personally -- is in the clinical aspects and biology of STDs; we are not relationship counselors. Other online sources will be more helpful in advising how to address past or current HPV infections with partners. I would start with the sponsor of this forum, the American Sexual Health Association (www.ashasexualhealth.org), where there is extensive information about HPV. Also perhaps the HPV information available from CDC (www.cdc.gov/std).
Six months is not a rigid recommendation at all. Infectivity for partners undoubtedly significantly declines as soon as visible warts are gone, i.e. maybe just a couple of weeks; and might never become truly zero. Surely the likelihood of transmission is substantially lower after 2-3 months and lower still at 6 months. Whether the duration of infectivity is just as long after recurrent warts (compared with first episode) has not been studied and isn't known.
My final comment is that nobody ever should feel "guilty" about spreading HPV. Remember that 90% of new sexual relationships going on in the world involve risk of HPV being transmitted unknowingly between those partners. It's unavoidable and normal. What's to be guilty about? Obviously, out of personal respect it is reasonable to inform new partners of currently known infection. But even then, for the most part having sex with someone who knows and informs is no more risky to that new partner than any other person with whom s/he might hook up.
I hope these comments are somewhat helpful.
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