When is hpv transmitted

It is possible for a person to infect another without even knowing they have the virus. It is nothing to be ashamed about. It is impossible to know when an HPV infection occurred. HPV can lie dormant for months, or even many years, before the emergence of genital warts or cervical abnormalities. There is no way to know which partner it came from or how long ago.

Having HPV does not mean that a person or their partner is having sex outside the current relationship. Some experts believe that in rare cases HPV may be transmitted through non-sexual contact, for example, an object that carries infectious material.

However, this is still an area of controversy. There are tests for HPV. However, these tests are limited in which HPV types they test for and when they are used.

The reasons for this are:. HPV can be tested for in conjunction with a cervical smear. The purpose of this test is to help the doctor in further management decisions on abnormal cervical smear results. There are several available treatments for genital HPV wart removal, although treatment is optional.

Read more about HPV diagnosis and treatment here. There are links between cancers such as cervical cancer and HPV , but please be reassured that a diagnosis of HPV infection does not equate to cancer. Warty lesions in the anogenital and oral areas are usually caused by low-risk lrHPV. Compared with couples not experiencing HPV transmission, transmitting couples were more sexually active and were more likely to use certain nonbarrier forms of contraception.

Few HPV-transmitting couples reported always using condoms during recent sexual activity, compared with over half of nontransmitting couples.

A major limitation of our study was the potential for misclassification of HPV transmission events. Variable detection of HPV could be due to natural fluctuation in viral levels or variable sampling of sites could confound the observation of viral transmission. For example, instances of apparent reinfection of sites may alternatively represent possible reactivation of latent infections. Another potential source of misclassification was the lack of a priori knowledge of the time required for HPV to be acquired from an infected partner.

Viral transmission could have occurred more frequently than the 2-month visit intervals used in the study, and transmission events could have been missed. Another limitation of the study was the inclusion of couples who had already had sexual contact with one another; initial viral transmission was likely to have occurred before study entry. Indeed, nearly half of the couples had type-specific concordant infections at study entry, indicating previous transmission of HPV, which limited our ability to evaluate incident infections.

Because our study relied on self-reported sexual activity, it was subject to recall bias. Furthermore, although all persons reported monogamous relationships, some of the incident infections without a source, most of which involved the male genitals, could have been acquired through sexual activity with another partner. Despite these limitations, the present study included intensive follow-up of a well-characterized cohort, sampling of multiple genital and nongenital sites, and state-of-the-art HPV testing and genotyping methods.

The development of comprehensive HPV prevention and control strategies, which incorporate HPV vaccine usage and contraceptive practices, is impeded by lack of information on the risk and routes of sexual transmission between heterosexual partners and potential genotype-specific differences in transmission efficiency. The small size of the cohort and the diversity of genotypes precluded type-specific analysis of transmission. However, study results are preliminary and need to be verified in larger cohorts.

Future HPV transmission studies are critical to address major gaps in our knowledge of the natural history of this virus. We extend our gratitude to the staff of the University of Hawaii, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii University Health Services whose clinical staff conducted specimen collection for the study.

Her research focuses on the molecular epidemiology of cancer including the role of infectious agents in the development and progression of cancer. She has investigated the epidemiology of HPV in both women and men. Transmission of human papillomavirus in heterosexual couples. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Emerg Infect Dis v. Emerg Infect Dis. Brenda Y. Lynne R.

Yurii B. Lori E. Marc T. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Corresponding author. Address for correspondence: Brenda Y. Copyright notice. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract We examined the transmission of human papillomavirus HPV in 25 heterosexual, monogamous couples 25 men, 25 women , followed up over an average of 7. Keywords: Human papillomavirus HPV , transmission, couples, partners, research.

Specimen Collection Couples attended concurrent study visits at 2-month intervals. Statistical Analysis The main objective of the statistical analysis was to evaluate HPV transmission between partners. Results Study Participants Thirty-eight couples 38 men, 38 women were enrolled. HPV status at baseline No.

Open in a separate window. Source site Target site No. Behavioral Factors All couples with genital-to-genital transmission reported vaginal intercourse during the period corresponding to the transmission event. Discussion This study demonstrates that HPV is efficiently transmitted between sexual partners and that multiple transmission events can occur within a couple.

Acknowledgments We extend our gratitude to the staff of the University of Hawaii, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii University Health Services whose clinical staff conducted specimen collection for the study. References 1. Schiffman MH Recent progress in defining the epidemiology of human papillomavirus infection and cervical neoplasia.

J Natl Cancer Inst ; 84 —8 Low concordance of genital human papillomavirus HPV lesions and viral types in HPV-infected women and their male sexual partners. Genital human papillomavirus infection among male and female sex partners: prevalence and type-specific concordance.

Evaluation of genital sites and sampling techniques for detection of human papillomavirus DNA in men. J Infect Dis ; —85 Comparison of physician- and self-collected genital specimens for detection of human papillomavirus in men. J Clin Microbiol ; 44 —7 Improved amplification of genital human papillomaviruses. Virology ; —27 J Clin Microbiol ; 44 — J Clin Microbiol ; 44 —9 Evaluation of high-risk human papillomavirus types PCR detection in paired urine and cervical samples of women with abnormal cytology.

J Clin Virol ; 36 —93 But there are vaccines that can stop these health problems from happening. You can get HPV by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the virus. It is most commonly spread during vaginal or anal sex. HPV can be passed even when an infected person has no signs or symptoms.

Anyone who is sexually active can get HPV, even if you have had sex with only one person. You also can develop symptoms years after you have sex with someone who is infected.

This makes it hard to know when you first became infected. In most cases, HPV goes away on its own and does not cause any health problems. But when HPV does not go away, it can cause health problems like genital warts and cancer.

Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or group of bumps in the genital area. They can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a cauliflower. A healthcare provider can usually diagnose warts by looking at the genital area. HPV can cause cervical and other cancers including cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis, or anus. It can also cause cancer in the back of the throat, including the base of the tongue and tonsils called oropharyngeal cancer.

Cancer often takes years, even decades, to develop after a person gets HPV. There is no way to know which people who have HPV will develop cancer or other health problems. They may also be more likely to develop health problems from HPV. Get vaccinated. The HPV vaccine is safe and effective. It can protect against diseases including cancers caused by HPV when given in the recommended age groups.

Get screened for cervical cancer.