STD Risk & Pap Smear Concerns: Seeking Information

Question
Hello! This is a receipt for a question you recently asked at allexperts.com, in category Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Most of our questions were answered in 3 days. Thanks for using our service!  Your question was "I am a 45 years old man who before 1990 fucked more than 150 different prostitutes without protection, and it was normal in brothels because here in Venezuela prostitutes just get your penis "inspection" as if they were doctors. 3 months ago my wife get the papanicolau test and the doctor told her that she had VPH PHV (papiloma) and needed to cauterized the warts. Now I ask you:That means that I am not going to make her love again without protection?That is mean that he betrayed me with other man?How is it possible that she had 18 years getting her papanicolau test every year and they were negative?I took a test with a frotis of my penis and it was negative in high risk virus and low risk virus (just certain types)Could I transmit the virus to her after 20 years married?Since I got married I have been with prostitutes but using protection.Why I me do not have warts?To be honest I do not know what to think, I even have been thinking about to get divorced but I have two small children.Please help.Yours Albar"

Answer
HPV is very prevelant and it is pretty easy to get infected having sex with a person with it....

It doesn't always show up on pap smears, that is why they are done so often, since if it is missed one year, it can be picked up the next.  Having sex with 150 prostitutes would pretty much assure someone of getting HPV.  The rate of infection in sexually active women in college is 50% so it has to be higher in prostitutes.

The warts are not always visible as growths (flat warts) and may only present in women as an abnormal pap smear.  In guys, also hard to see, sometimes it takes a trained eye to inspect while using a couple different stains/solvents.  

You cannot draw any inferences that someone has "betrayed" because the abnormal pap smear may not present for years after getting infected with HPV.  It sounds much more likely that she acquired the virus from you and is now showing symptoms.