[Question #8013] HPV transmission risk
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49 months ago
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Hello Doctors
I am a male and I had multiple encounters with another male around 2 years ago. We probably had around 2-3 encounters or maybe a bit more. During each of these encounters, there was mutual masturbation and also apposition/frottage so we just rubbed our penis' together. It wasn't just our penis tips rubbing together but the entire penis was rubbed together so including the shaft, base etc. No penetration was involved. Each time it occured for around 20 minutes. I am no longer in contact with this person, so can't exactly ask him about his status.
1. I am very anxious about HPV transmission from these encounters. What are my chances of HPV from these encounters?
2. Have you ever seen HPV transmitted in this kind of way?
3. I am only just now worried about HPV because on my genitals I have noticed some very very tiny bumps which I think are white/skin coloured and if I had to guess they are about 1mm in size. There are a lot of them, maybe around 20-30 and they are clustered very close to one another in a circular kind of fashion. I remember seeing these 1.5 year ago but I forgot about it and just noticed it again recently so they have been there for at least 1.5 years. I tried to show the dermatologist but he said he could barely even see it but he said warts would be obvious so he said they definitely weren't warts. They don't hurt or itch. Do you think these are warts? Would warts be this small and there be this many or are they big like the ones I see on google.
Thank you for your service. This issue has been keeping me up for many nights!
I am a male and I had multiple encounters with another male around 2 years ago. We probably had around 2-3 encounters or maybe a bit more. During each of these encounters, there was mutual masturbation and also apposition/frottage so we just rubbed our penis' together. It wasn't just our penis tips rubbing together but the entire penis was rubbed together so including the shaft, base etc. No penetration was involved. Each time it occured for around 20 minutes. I am no longer in contact with this person, so can't exactly ask him about his status.
1. I am very anxious about HPV transmission from these encounters. What are my chances of HPV from these encounters?
2. Have you ever seen HPV transmitted in this kind of way?
3. I am only just now worried about HPV because on my genitals I have noticed some very very tiny bumps which I think are white/skin coloured and if I had to guess they are about 1mm in size. There are a lot of them, maybe around 20-30 and they are clustered very close to one another in a circular kind of fashion. I remember seeing these 1.5 year ago but I forgot about it and just noticed it again recently so they have been there for at least 1.5 years. I tried to show the dermatologist but he said he could barely even see it but he said warts would be obvious so he said they definitely weren't warts. They don't hurt or itch. Do you think these are warts? Would warts be this small and there be this many or are they big like the ones I see on google.
Thank you for your service. This issue has been keeping me up for many nights!
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
49 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your confidence in our services.
You really needn't be worried at all. To your specific quesions:
1. Nobody can say the risk of HPV was zero, but certaintly it was very low. Any risk resulted from the direct penis-to-penis contact; mutual masturbation (hand-genital contact) is believed to be no risk at all for HPV or any other STD.
2. As far as I know, I have never seen a patient with HPV transmitted from such exposures.
3. Your description doesn't sound like genital warts. And a dermatologist's opinion is highly reliable -- much more accurate than my own guess.
But I have to wonder why "This issue has been keeping [you] up for many nights". HPV is no big deal. Assuming you've had sex with at least a few partners in your life, you can assume you have already been infected with HPV, probably more than once. HPV should be viewed as a normal, expected, unavoidable consequence of having sex. Even if you were at slight risk of HPV from the sexual encounters described above, those events did not increase your risk any more than it already was.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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49 months ago
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Thank you Dr Handsfield
I was worried about HPV/warts because I heard it's lifelong and even when the virus is undetectable, it is still contagious.
So essentially you are saying in "1. Nobody can say the risk of HPV was zero, but certaintly it was very low. Any risk resulted from the direct penis-to-penis contact; mutual masturbation (hand-genital contact) is believed to be no risk at all for HPV or any other STD." that in science, you can never say the risk is 0 but the risk is basically 0?
Also I read in another thread that you said warts do not go away in less than a few months. Would hydrozole be useful to get rid of warts or not at all because I recently had some bumps on my groin area bilaterally that went away in ~3 weeks. First 1.5 weeks I let it naturally heal and from the 1.5 week to the 3rd week I started to use hydrozole. Would warts last this short or would hydrozole basically do nothing if it were to be warts.
Much appreciated
I was worried about HPV/warts because I heard it's lifelong and even when the virus is undetectable, it is still contagious.
So essentially you are saying in "1. Nobody can say the risk of HPV was zero, but certaintly it was very low. Any risk resulted from the direct penis-to-penis contact; mutual masturbation (hand-genital contact) is believed to be no risk at all for HPV or any other STD." that in science, you can never say the risk is 0 but the risk is basically 0?
Also I read in another thread that you said warts do not go away in less than a few months. Would hydrozole be useful to get rid of warts or not at all because I recently had some bumps on my groin area bilaterally that went away in ~3 weeks. First 1.5 weeks I let it naturally heal and from the 1.5 week to the 3rd week I started to use hydrozole. Would warts last this short or would hydrozole basically do nothing if it were to be warts.
Much appreciated
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49 months ago
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Just wanted to add in a few more enquiries.
1. There was also penis to anal rubbing together which I forgot to add. So both ways I did it to him and he did it to me. Maybe 10 minutes each time or even less. No penetration though. Is this still no risk for HPV as there was no penetration.
2. Also is there a % for what the HPV transmission risk is if someone had HPV and penetration did occur.
Although I know most people have it, this issue still makes me extremely paranoid.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
49 months ago
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Thanks for these follow-up comments. Sorry I missed your comments a few days ago and for the delayed reply.
Most HPV infections are not believed to be transmissible (contagious) when undetectable. The immune system clears most infections within a few months to a couple of years, after which usually they remain undetectable and non-transmissible.
You correctly interpret my advice about transmission risk from the contact described.
Hydrozole and similar products (corticosteroids) are exactly the WRONG medications to use. They inhibit the immune system, which is why they are effective against inflammatory rashes like eczema, but for HPV might prolong the infection.
Penile-anal rubbing: Yes, that could be a risk for HPV transmission. But without anal penetration, probably ly low risk. However, there are no data and percentage risk for any particular kind of exposure.
As a sexually active person, now and/or in the future, you should understand that you may well have HPV and certainly will have it someday. Over 90% of all humans acquire genital or anal HPV -- it is a normal, expected, unavoidable consequence of being sexual. Fortunately, most infections cause no health problems of any kind. Nobody should go through their sex lives trying to prevent all HPV infections, which is impossible. What you should do, however, is get vaccinated, which will prevent infection with either four or nine of the HPV types that cause most warts and cancers. (In many countries, e.g. the US, Western Europe, and much of Australasia, the vaccine covers all 9 high risk strains; but the 4-strain type is primarily used in some countries. Whichever is available to you, please get vaccinated -- or preferably with the 9-strain type (Gardasil-9) if you have a choice. Then stop worrying entirely about HPV!
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49 months ago
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Thank you Dr Handsfield.
So was the penile:anal rubbing more of a risk than the genital to genital rubbing or is it essentially both very similar and I should just stop worrying about it.
Thank you so much for your help so far! Very much appreciated.
So was the penile:anal rubbing more of a risk than the genital to genital rubbing or is it essentially both very similar and I should just stop worrying about it.
Thank you so much for your help so far! Very much appreciated.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
49 months ago
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I can't accurately compare the two risks, but I would guess penile-anal is more likely to transmit HPV than penis-penis contact. But both are low risk compared to insertive anal or vaginal intercourse.
That completes the two follow-up exchanges included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe. And do look into HPV immunization!
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