My boyfriend has been confirmed to have HPV twice, apparently contracting it from me.

He orginally found out when he tried to donate sperm and they wouldn't let him because he tested poistively for HPV.

After finding out, I went and got tested at my local doctor. I had every single STD test preformed on me that was available. I came back with a clean bill of health (other than some vaginal fungitis: over production of yeast). The weird thing is that I came back both normal on my pap smear and on the HPV test. I have no warts or belimishes of any kind.

He went to the STD clinic to varify and came back positive once again. He has HPV with gential warts.

How is it that my test results are coming back negative, I have no warts and he's positive?

If your partner had partners before you , it is possible he could have contracted it that way. Here's the thing about HPV. It can lay dormant in the body for weeks, months and sometimnes years before anything appears. After all , it is a virus. IF your HPV pap was negative then this means that no High Risk strains were detected. Warts are evaluated by visual inspection and warts are low risk meaning they usually don't lead to precancer development.



Also there is no FDA approved testing for men which means the only way they know they have HPV is by the appearance of warts.


So that's pretty much the basics. IF there are any other questions just post them and also the immune system can usually take control of the virus where it won't cause issues. JUst give the immune system some time.

Hi thegin,

As far as I'm aware, there is no HPV test for men. So unless he has visable warts, there's no proof positive way to know if he indeed has HPV or not:

How are men screened for HPV?
Men are typically screened clinically with a visual inspection to check for lesions (such as warts) – there is no specific way to test directly for HPV in men that is approved for clinical use. Researchers are looking at ways to better screen men, but the current lack of testing options for males can be very frustrating.

While still not routinely done, anyone with a history of receptive anal sex may want to speak with his or her health care provider about having an anal Pap test. Anal cancer is uncommon, but screening can still be an important precaution – talk to your provider if you have questions.

That came from here: http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn_men.cfm

As for where he contracted it from, how does he know for sure it was you? Unless he was a virgin before you got together, he could have easily contracted it from someone else. Even if it's been YEARS. HPV can lay dormant for many years before showing any symptoms, if ever. Many people have the virus, and don't even know it because there are no symptoms. I have seen many people who've been in long term relationships for 10+ years suddenly have symptoms of HPV. Whether it be brought on by stress, body change, severe illness, etc.. Suddenly something "triggers" it, and it becomes active. It doesn't always mean that either partner has been unfaithful, either, during that time. Just one of the many frustrating things about this virus.

Also...not to upset you...but I have heard some women say they've had a clean pap/hpv test at one point. Then the next time around, it shows up positive. I don't know how common that is, though. Btw, when you took the HPV test, did they run both the High Risk and Low Risk panel? I know it's common for most places to run the High, but not the Low. Main reason being is High risk is what they are more concerned about as, if left untreated, may eventually turn into cervical cancer (which is rare from what I've been told/read). Low risk is the type that mainly causes genital warts (and sometimes can cause an abnormal pap test, but it's not the kind that can lead to cancer), so it's not seen as a health threat in that respects.

One things for sure, if you've had any kind of unprotected sexual activity together, chances are...if you didn't have it before...you may have it now. Even though your testing says otherwise. Even if you used a condom, there's still a chance you could have contracted it. It's not 100% with HPV. A condom doesn't protect all of your genital area. HPV is contracted via skin to skin contact. If you haven't already, I really recommend reading more about it at the following links:

http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn.cfm

http://www.thehpvtest.com/

http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm

http://www.healthandhpv.com/ (this was a site created by someone who had/has HPV. It's no longer updated, and some of the links don't work in places. However she collected lots of good info from both researching and talking with her Dr's. Worth a look.)

Goodluck!

The thing is that he didn't have it before me.
It was after the first time we had sex, a week later, that he actually noticed a tiny red bump that soon turned into a wart at the base of his shaft.

He hadn't sex for maybe 2 years before that, and I am his first girlfriend since then. He has had oral intercourse with women and I understand that HPV can be transmitted orally as well.

I've also be recently told from a previous partner that I gave them HPV. (actually today after I started to tell my exes to get checked :/) but the thing that I don't understand is that I have HPV? but the test that I take are coming back negative with also no signs of internal warts and the pap smears are clean (of any high risk strains)

Is the reason why this is is because I did have HPV at one time, my immune system developed an immunity to it and it went away on it's own?

Still doesn't mean he couldn't have had it prior to being with you. Again, he could have had it, but never developed a symptom until now. It's definitely NOT uncommon. A week seems awfully fast, but then again I'm not sure on that. I have the high risk kind, and the verdict is out on the low risk (long story). I've read it could be several weeks before a symptom, but not sure if it can happen in a week. Same goes for previous partners. How does this expartner know for certain, unless you're the ONLY person he's EVER came in contact with sexually (including genital contact without penetration, sharing sexual toys, and so forth). They could've have gotten it previous to you, and/or after you (you can contract more then one strain of the virus).

As for if you possibly did have it, then developed an immunity, yes...that's very possible. What I'm not sure about is, say the virus is not active in your system...hence a negative HPV test....and you have sex with someone....some say that you can still get the virus, and others say if the virus is not active that it's not passable. Many people differ in opinion on that, including many medical professional.

The thing is there's no way to ever positively know for sure in many cases. Period. You MAY have had it at one point, but there's no way to be positive. Your current & previous partners may, or may not, have contracted it from you. Your expartner who said he did get it from you could be just pointing in your directions because you brought it up (due to your current beau's situation). It's really hard to say for sure....and if you had another HPV test (high and low panels), and it came up positive...it's still not 100% proof you're the one who passed it to everyone else. What's to say you didn't get it from one of them?

It's absolutely crazy, I know.

Oops...sorry about that thegin. I didn't see how you worded that at the beginning. What I meant to say when I started my last response is how did he know for sure that he didn't have it? Of course, like I already said, he could've had it, and not known it. A person can have HPV without symptoms. Plus, there's no HPV test for men like there is for women. There's no way he could be 100% certain.

I apologize. I'm not trying to say you didn't give it to him. Anything IS possible when it comes to HPV, and that's pretty much what I'm trying to say. To me, reading your story, I can't see where you're positively the one who gave him, and your ex-partner, HPV.

I think what the most frustrating thing out of this whole ordeal is that he has been with only 4 women (including me). I on the other hand had "free-love" and quite a bit more partners then he has. So the most there is quite a number of possablities from which I could have contracted w/o symptom and just passed it on. Now he has gential warts, which he has to go through painful procedures to remove. We were both stupid for sure, but I wish I could just find the source of it.

HPV is sure a silly thing.

Ooooh...I see. He's probably figuring since you've had more partners then he that you're automatically the person who gave it to him. That plus the fact his first symptom showed up a week after your first sexual encounter. Doesn't matter if you've been with 1 - 100 lovers, when it comes to sex, you still run a risk of catching something. Even if you protect yourself with condoms and dental dams (and so forth). I've seen several people post how they were virgins, had their first sexual encounter, and ended up getting HPV.

Plus, now that you've been physical, it's very possible you have contracted the virus (even though you currently show no symptoms and have a negative test) from him. So say you do have a symptom, and/or test positive for HPV down the road....he may think, "Ah-ha! I knew it was her!". Thing is that's still not proof you're the one. You could very well be HPV negative, and then become positive because you contracted it from him.

Yeah...after a while I had to take a break from reading up on HPV. I mean talk about making your head spin. lol!