Can wart be spread to other person?

LegacyUser

Going anon for this.

So, me and my bf are together for about 10 months and everything's smooth sailing.

I know he has some random medicine and stuff in his drawer and recently I saw a small box of liquid medication with small plastic applicators inside it when we were takin stuff out of it (We don't live together). It was a prescribed med from a few years ago. I googled the scientific name of the med and it turned out to be a genital wart medication for female.

I don't know much about genital warts but I do know that he and his ex used to have anal sex quite often during their 2 year relationship. We don't have anal sex but I'm just a bit worried whether it could affect me?

Neyite

OP we cant give medical advice here, but we can give you a few pointers.

Was it prescribed to the ex?
Did /was she using this treatment during their relationship?
Do you use protection with him at the moment?

You can ask him, but only you know if he would be truthful or likely to minimise or lie. Either way, if I found out this, I'd be getting myself checked out and making sure he did too before we went near each other again. If I found out that he knowingly put me at risk of catching something he knows he was exposed to, it would be over.

LegacyUser

The prescription on the box didnt have a name so I cannot assume who it was for but the medication itself is for female genital wart so I would assume it was for his ex. And yes, it was used during the time when they were in a relationship. I dont know if he had one or he was treated for this but he told me that he's been to an STD clinic before for a treatment. I get myself checked every year by my GP just for a peace of mind.

We dont use condoms as I'm on the pills so that's why I'm a bit worried whether him being with someone with warts can affect me.

Should I get an STD test? I get tested every year but it's a basic one that includes chlamedia and that kinda stuff.

More importantly, should I ask him whether he has been treated for warts?

Big Bag of Chips

You are together for 10 months.. of course you should ask him. After 10 months together you should be comfortable discussing pretty much anything.

Why are you so worried about bringing this up? What are you afraid of happening?

LegacyUser

Most people have been exposed to HPV (warts) if they are having unprotected sex but there might not be symptoms. Do a google search on HPV and get yourself educated on it. HPV causes cervical cancer also so make sure you get yourself smear tested if you haven't been recently.

LegacyUser

Username678 wrote: »

Most people have been exposed to HPV (warts) if they are having unprotected sex but there might not be symptoms. Do a google search on HPV and get yourself educated on it. HPV causes cervical cancer also so make sure you get yourself smear tested if you haven't been recently.

Op here. The reason I got worried is because I got my smear test results earlier this year and it turned out that there was a significant risk of me getting a cervical cancer. I got a necessary treatment done but I can't shake the feeling that this could have come from him.

Obviously Ive had a couple different boyfriends before so I can't say that he gave it to me but the timing of how I got diagnosed made me a bit upset when I found the medication.

Tigger99

A condom only covers a penis, other genital skin to skin contact can pass the virus too.

OP there is no test for the genital wart virus, many many people will have it and never know. It's only when warts appear(in a small amount of cases) that someone could know for sure.

By the way having the hpv virus doesn't mean you have the warts virus, most people will contact hpv at some stage.

But def go for a smear anyways, it's so important for women.

LegacyUser

Op here.

Ok I got a bit worried because firstly I didn't know much about warts and secondly I was recently diagnosed as having precancerous cells during my recent smear. Obviously I cannot blame him for giving me the HPV because I've had other boyfriends so it is wrong of me to blame him for that. Plus he's been very supportive through the whole thing so I suppose I was a bit overreacting.

I've since read a bit more about genital warts and I've calmed down a bit.

We've discussed STDs in general but he has never mentioned warts or anything in particular. I suppose ignorance just scared me a bit! I will defo mention it and see what he says anyway.

neveah

People really need to educate themselves about HPV and genital warts because the level of ignorance still out there is astounding. Condoms won't protect you 100% against contracting the HPV virus, as a previous poster mentioned a condom only covers a penis so skin to skin contact can still pass the HPV virus.

There are hundreds of strains of HPV, some strains cause cervical cancer, other strains cause genital warts. There is no one strain that causes both. However if you develop genital warts, your doctor will generally carry out more regular smear tests in case you are carrying more than one strain of the virus. Most people have been exposed to HPV. If you read up on it you will see that it is estimated that 70-80% of sexually active people are carrying strains of HPV. A lot of people are carriers of the virus but they will never develop genital warts, these people are just lucky. It's passed on at such a rate nowadays that it is comparable to the common cold.

If you have had more than one sexual partner in your life then it is almost impossible to pinpoint for sure who passed the virus to you because it can lie dormant in your system for years. So while you may assume that it was the guy/girl that you had unprotected sex with 6 months ago, it could have just as easily been the guy/girl you had protected sex with 1 year ago. There is just no way of conclusively telling.

STI checks are very important obviously but if your partner has had genital warts in the past then it really won't make a difference if you get checked before embarking on a relationship with them because you can't get an antibiotic or a vaccine to get rid of the HPV virus anyway (you can get a HPV vaccine if you are a virgin, hence the reason the government wanted to give it to 11/12 year old girls, once you become sexually active chances are you've been exposed). There's also the chance that you could embark on a sexual relationship with someone else who never had genital warts but who carries the virus and can still pass it onto you and you could develop genital warts! That's how common it is!!

Generally if genital warts have been treated and the person does not have a current outbreak then the chances of transmitting it is reduced. It is thought that the immune system eliminates the virus eventually from the body although having said that it is still possible to have another outbreak years later as it can lie dormant in your system.

As you can see it is no surprise that genital warts is the most common STI. You'd probably be surprised by the amount of people who have been affected by it but you won't hear them talking about it because it's not information that people want to volunteer because of the stigma attached to it. Hopefully as more people become educated about how common this is then the stigma will begin to fall away.