[Question #2450] Hpv

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95 months ago
4.5 months ago I regrettably had protected sex with csw. My wife has her pap smear in a week . She has always had no issues with Pap smears her whole life. We have been married 13 years and we are in our 40s with limited sex partners . What are the chances of finding a HPV infection next week ?   What are the chances of developing warts after 4.5 months . 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
95 months ago
Welcome back to the forum. I think you're the same Chris who asked another question (under a different email address) several weeks ago. As discussed then, it is unlikely you acquired HPV during a single condom-protected exposure. If you did, it is probably too early for your wife to develop an abnormal pap smear from it; that usually takes many months or even several years. If a wart-causing HPV were involved, you would develop warts before your wife might.

In any case, you can assume you previously had HPV and so did your wife, since virtually all sexually active people become infected. For that reason, it is almost never possible to accurately know when and from whom any particular HPV infection was caught. If your wife someday has an abnormal pap or other HPV related problem, either now or anytime in the future, you'll never know when she was infected and there will be no reason to assume it has anything to do with your recent extramarital event.

Do your best to let that event go. It should not be a cause for worry about HPV or any other health outcome.

HHH, MD

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95 months ago
Do they check for HPV during Pap smear ?  Also is it possible to just get warts on your anus and not penis . Dr said everything looked good and no irregularity when he inspected my penis and doesn't expect any issues . You agree ? 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
95 months ago
HPV testing usually is done as part of the pap smear.

My reply above partly answers your question about anal warts. They occur mostly in people whose anal areas have been sexually involved, i.e. as the receptive partners in anal sex. However, anal warts sometimes occur in heterosexual men with no direct anal sexual exposure. So your risk for anal warts is low -- i.e. I agree with your doctor and would not expect this to happen.

Think carefully before you ask another follow-up question; you have only one more coming on this thread. Also, this will have to be your last thread about this exposure and your concerns about HPV and warts. The forum does not permit repeated questions on the same topic or exposure; future questions about this exposure or on HPV or warts HIV or other STDs will be deleted without reply and without refund of the posting fee. This policy is based on compassion, not criticism, and is designed to reduce temptations to keep paying for questions with obvious answers. In addition, experience shows that continued answers tend to prolong users' anxieties rather than reducing them. Finally, such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. Thanks for your understanding.

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95 months ago
How worried do I have to be that the HPV test will come back positive  for my wife ? How confident can I be at 4.5 months that warts won't appear ?   Thanks , I understand and there will be no more posts 
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95 months ago
Also if I do make it to the 6 month mark with no lesions , what are chances after that of warts appearing ? 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
95 months ago
I have already said that it is extremely unlikely that your wife will have a positive HPV test or that either of you will develop warts at any time in the future. There's no way to put an accurate number on the odds, but I would say less than one chance in many thousand. And if it happens, it will not be from the exposure you are so concerned about. Do your best to relax and move on. Don't confuse your anxieties over a sexual decision you regret with the medical consequences of that event. They aren't the same. Deal with the former part as you need to, perhaps with professional counseling. But disregard the latter. It's not likely to ever be an issue for you.

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