Question about HPV and genital warts.

[lifeishort]

First off I apologize this is so long. I have been doing a lot of research about the HPV virus and genital warts. My girlfriend recently has been diagnosed with genital warts and HPV showed up on her pap smear. She is the first person I have had sex with, but I now have found out that she was with 3 other guys before me. However, her warts did not show up until about 8 months after she had sex with the last guy, which I found is common as the virus can remain dormant. Now, I have had warts appear and treated on my hands since I was a kid, but more have appeared in recent years than before. Most of the research I've done says it is not possible to transfer hand warts to genital warts, however I did finger her while I had warts on my hand. I don't know if they could be transferred through that direct contact or not. Aren't these supposed to be two different strains of HPV? Secondly, we started having sex in March and I have not seen any signs of genital warts on me, but I have just recently had a wart pop up on my thumb. Could these warts be at all related between each other, or should I just assume that she caught them from another guy and I may possibly now have two strains of HPV? This is just kind of a bummer, you think you can trust someone....

[Brandye]

You have already answered most of your own questions. The warts on your hands will not cause genital warts in her, nor vice versa. The wart on your thumb is not likely related to anything on her pudenda. There are nearly 70 strains of HPV. We know that four are bad news and implicated in cervical cancer; many are, at this point in medical science, seen to be benign; more than half the population will have developed some HPV by the age of fifty. So far, no big deal.

Now, you have had sex. Just as there was a dormant phase before her genital warts showed up, there can be a dormant phase until they show up in anyone. Whether or not you will develop genital warts, I do not know.

The various HPV that are related to warts of all kinds are passed on by skin to skin contact and condoms are slight protection. If any warts do appear on your genitals, have them checked just to know what you are dealing with. At that point, the doctor looking at the slides can give you some straight answers.

[lifeishort]

Well I recently have noticed a few fleshy type bumps appear in my pubic area and close to the base of my penis. I don't know if these are warts or not but I've never seen anything like this down there before. I have since broken up with my girlfriend, although over something unrelated. I'm not sure what would be the best way for me to deal with this. I think I may go to my school's medical center to have them checked to see if they are really warts or not. I thought that warts on men typically show up on the penis.
I'm really embarrassed about this, and I don't really want to have to tell my parents. I feel like such a disgrace and I hate the fact that this has happened to me when I was only with one girl, who I thought I could trust. But I also realize it's partially my fault because I took the risk by having sex in the first place.
Some advice for other people out there: Don't trust anyone, and just wait to have sex. I waited until I was 21 and I now realize I should have waited longer. Now I feel like I can't even date.

[Brandye]

OK, Life, Maybe you do and maybe you do not have genital warts. The only way to find out is to get to the clinic and get yourself checked out. At least as importantly, do not get down on yourself. Many of us have taken stupid risks. Some were lucky and some not. Hormones and a comely figure do trump rathionality at times. For all of us.

If you do have it, you have it. Nothing to ashamed of in the modern world. Your final words of advice to others are wonderful. And whether they wait or not, tell them to be careful. Chin up.