[Question #4493] Sorry to bother you again

81 months ago

I am so sorry to bother you again and I know this is not the rigt way to use this forum, but I have just one fear left that I would like to eliminate so I can put my ocd mind at rest. Can I please adress mr. Handsfield.

I accepted everything you said to me about the no risk exposure for my friend when he accidentely touch my scrotum when on vacation. I understand now that there was indeed no risk for transmission as you told me so I eliminated that fear.

I am referring to my last post "worried hpv 2" when my friend might accidenlty touched my scrotum for 1 or 2 seconds.

I do have one thing that keeps bothering me. Say I did have had a hpv wart on that specific location and he touched me right there. Is this still a no-risk exposure when he might have touched his own genitals later? I just want to understand why it is not a risk, because sometimes I read on this forum that there is a risk for for example with mutual masturbation.

Can you please explain to me why there is no risk of tranmission of hpv even if my friend touched or rubbed his own genitals later on in the evening. I really want to let this go and enjoy my life again.

Please help me with this one, I promise this is my last time I will be asking this questions. but this person is very close to me and I just dont want anything to happen to him thanks to me. I hope you understand why I post again and I will seek for counseling as you adviced me.

Edward W. Hook M.D.

81 months ago

It's unfortunate that you felt the need to return to the Forum. As Dr. Handsfield told you at the end of your last interchange "Please don't be tempted to start a new round of questions on these topics. Repeated questions on the same exposure, risks, etc are discouraged; and the answers will not change. And there is no scenario you will come up with (OCD or not) that would possible change the assessment you have had here." yet you are back with question challenging both your earlier interaction with me, as well as your interaction with Dr. Handsfield. (BTW, clients are not permitted to request a reply from one or the other of us. We have worked together for close to 40 years and while our verbal styles vary, the content of our science based replies do not. As you should have noted earlier, Dr. Handsfield agreed with my earlier response to your question.) I will provide a single response to your question, then close the thread. Further repetitive/anxiety (and OCD)-related questions may be deleted without any response at all.

HPV (and other STIs) are NOT transmitted from person to person through the transfer of infected material from one person's genitals or a lesion to another person on hands or finger times. There are a number of reasons for this, as well as the observation and experience of many health care providers who have seen literally tens of thousand of patients. Your question assumes that infectious material somehow "sticks" to a persons fingers when touched. It does not. Further, in order to cause infection, the amount of infectious material (i.e. the numbers of bacteria or viruses being transmitted) transferred also influences the likelihood of causing infection (in other words, the more viruses or bacteria a person is exposed to, the more likely it is that the infection will be transmitted to that person) and because the type of skin on the hands is different from ano-genital skin only small numbers of viruses/bacteria get on persons hands. Finally, as already mentioned, the fact is that in many studies and clinical observation, clinicians have found that STIs are NOT transferred from person to person through transfer of genital material from person to person on the hands.

I hope this helps. If it does not, there is nothing more I can do for you. This will end this thread. Please stay off the internet and work on your OCD and do your best to stop focusing on a possible event which occurred long ago. EWH

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