[Question #13778] Oral Risk (HPV)
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19 days ago
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Hello!
Firstly, thank you for the incredible service you provide.
I (25m) have been in a lifetime monogamous role with my partner (24f). She has often struggled with sex (potentially has endo) and so we have never engaged in full PIV intercourse, only oral and hands and sometimes just rubbing of penis around vagina.
6 years ago I made a mistake and received unprotec. oral sex from a girl twice, and gave and received unprotec. oral sex. I felt horrible afterwards and have never done it again. I went and tested negative to gonnorhea, chmyiada, HIV, and siphilus. I have never had any symptomps. I had come to terms with it until last month when I read that HPV can be passed through oral sex.
I am worried that potentially
1. I contracted HPV and had subsequently infected my partner
2. I still have ongoing HPV and may pass it onto my partner in the future if we engage in PIV sex.
Furthermore, since my partner is not having PIV and believes both of us to never have had other partners, she has never received a pap smear. My anxiety is leading me down paths of either her one day testing positive for HPV and I am obviously exposed as being unfaithful, or perhaps her contracting high-risk HPV and it never being flagged and her getting cancer. I've seen you reassure others on similar scenarios that the chances are very minuscule, but I guess i would just like confirmation for my specific scenario.
Firstly, thank you for the incredible service you provide.
I (25m) have been in a lifetime monogamous role with my partner (24f). She has often struggled with sex (potentially has endo) and so we have never engaged in full PIV intercourse, only oral and hands and sometimes just rubbing of penis around vagina.
6 years ago I made a mistake and received unprotec. oral sex from a girl twice, and gave and received unprotec. oral sex. I felt horrible afterwards and have never done it again. I went and tested negative to gonnorhea, chmyiada, HIV, and siphilus. I have never had any symptomps. I had come to terms with it until last month when I read that HPV can be passed through oral sex.
I am worried that potentially
1. I contracted HPV and had subsequently infected my partner
2. I still have ongoing HPV and may pass it onto my partner in the future if we engage in PIV sex.
Furthermore, since my partner is not having PIV and believes both of us to never have had other partners, she has never received a pap smear. My anxiety is leading me down paths of either her one day testing positive for HPV and I am obviously exposed as being unfaithful, or perhaps her contracting high-risk HPV and it never being flagged and her getting cancer. I've seen you reassure others on similar scenarios that the chances are very minuscule, but I guess i would just like confirmation for my specific scenario.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
19 days ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your confidence in our services, and for reviewing our replies to other forum questions like your own. Your concluding statement is correct: my reassurance for "similar scenarios" indeed implies the same reply in your situation. The chance you have genital HPV on account of your two oral sex exposures may not be zero, but it is exceedingly low.
My first comment reflects on your wife's choice to forego Pap smears. That is an unfortunate mistake. Some genital HPV infections, including some that result in cervical cancer, are unexplained by sexual exposure. The origins of such HPV infections unknown. But every woman -- including those who have never had sex -- should follow standard Pap smear guidelines. And the same reasoning actually helps resolve your worries: if your wife were ever to have a positive Pap smear, or a positive HPV test done during Pap smear, should not conclude that you were the source of her infection..
Now going to your main concern, you were at little if any risk of HPV for having had just two episodes of receptive oral sex. Oral HPV is relatively uncommon -- a whole lot less common than genital infection. Further, when oral HPV is present, it probably is not efficiently transmitted. In other words, even if one or both your past oral sex partners had oral HPV infection, you probably would not have been infected. And if you did, you didn't necessarily transmit it to your wife -- and probably would be unlikely to do so if or when you eventually have insertive vaginal sex with your wife. Finally, partly for the reasons above, if your wife ever has a diagnosis if genital HPV and/or an abnormal pap, she will have no basis to assume you have had other sex partners.
I do hope your wife sees the light and starts following standard Pap smear guidelines. I also hope these comments are helpful; let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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18 days ago
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Hi Doctor HH
Thank you very much for your response, that confirms my understanding. I will try and encourage her to go for Pap Smears in the future.
Just to clarify
1. It is exceedingly unlikely that I received genital HPV from the two instances of oral sex.
2. In the unlikely event that I did receive it and passed it on, there would be no basis to assume that it was because of me (even though she has not had other sexual relations before)
3. Just to check, having tested negative for gonorrhoea, chmyiada, HIV, and siphilus - there is little other STD's to worry about? (other than I guess HSV-1 and 2)
Thank you very much for your response, that confirms my understanding. I will try and encourage her to go for Pap Smears in the future.
Just to clarify
1. It is exceedingly unlikely that I received genital HPV from the two instances of oral sex.
2. In the unlikely event that I did receive it and passed it on, there would be no basis to assume that it was because of me (even though she has not had other sexual relations before)
3. Just to check, having tested negative for gonorrhoea, chmyiada, HIV, and siphilus - there is little other STD's to worry about? (other than I guess HSV-1 and 2)
4. Do you have any advice/recommendations for combatting anxiety around STDs? Due to my wife's Endo/PCOS, she often complains of a sore back, heavy periods, cysts etc - every time she mentions something I get a horrible feeling that it's some horrible STD that she's experiencing. I understand this is likely just guilt, so I suppose I will just continue trying to work through it.
Thank you so much for your help
Thank you so much for your help
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
18 days ago
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1 and 2, exactly right.
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3. The gonorrhea/chlamydia tests are reliable and conclusive any time 4-5 days or more after exposure. Same for syphilis and HIV at 6 weeks. The available HSV blood tests are not highly reliable in absence of typical symptoms or other especially high risk situations, which is why HSV blood tests are not recommended in situations like yours.
4. All we can do here is provide the scientific facts and our professional judgment. If you remain anxious after that, professional counseling makes sense. Your wife's symptoms are not typical for STDs; and if your and her sexual histories are accurate, then obviously she cannot have an STD. If you decide to consider counseling, I strongly advise you involve your wife and do it as a couple -- although of course that's something you could discuss with your personal physician (if that's who refers you to a counselor); or in the initial counseling visit.
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