Hi all!

I have HPV. My boyfried and I had been sexually active( a few times without protection) before I knew I had it. I developed GW and then went to the doctor. I have been treated by my doctor. We are now using condoms every time.
My question is: how should my boyfriend know if he had HPV as well? He does not have any visible signs. Is there a test that will tell him? And if he does have HPV can he give it back to me?

Thanks for your help!

Hi questions2000,
From what I understand, there is no test at all for males to detect HPV. The only way they may know is if they develop signs...namely genital warts. It's also very common for people to get the low-risk (the type that usually causes gw's) HPV, and never develop signs ever. Then eventually their immune system will beat it into remissiom. So it's really hard to say if he has it or not until something shows. If a male is exposed to high-risk hpv (cervical dysplasia kind), chances are he will never know. High-risk rarely shows any signs in men. They don't know unless someone tells them that they may have been exposed to that type. Same with low-risk, since there's no test, there's no way to be sure if he was or wasn't. Also no way to detect if it's currently active in his system.

I hate to say it, but it's highly likely that if you've had sex with each other, he's got it. HPV is contracted by skin to skin contact. Not bodily fluids like other stds. While using a condom is encourage, you do need to know that it's not 100% with HPV. It only covers so much. It doesn't cover other areas of the genitals like the scrotum, etc.. That's why, you could be a virgin, only rub genitals without penetration, and end up getting it. As for him reinfecting you, from what I've read, couples who share the same strain of the virus will not "ping-pong" it back and forth. Your body automatically starts to recognize the virus type, and starts to work on fighting it off. Once your immune system is familiar with it, it automatically knows this virus. Um...I'm sure I'm not explaining that part well. lol! Sorry for that. Perhaps Fredo can explain it better. I have heard of some couple not taking a chance when warts (or dysplasia) is present. I've heard some will use condoms, and have the guy wear like boxer shorts to cover the rest of his pelvis/genitals. So not to agitate the warts, etc.. Then go back to unprotected sex once the warts have disappeared. Then some couples figure screw it. They have the virus, why go through all that trouble. Doesn't make a difference. So I think it all depends on the couples and what they decide to do. I should note that, if you weren't aware already, that you can get more then one strain of the virus.

If you haven't read it already, you may want to check out this site's HPV info section. It may help with any questions you may have:
http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn.cfm

Goodluck to you both!

I was just looking over recent topics, and Fredo answered a similar question to yours.

You can read it here:
http://www.ashastd.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=672