HPV Transmission: Can It Spread Through Non-Intercourse Contact?

Question
Can HPV be transmitted by anything other than actual intercourse?  Does it have to be contact between the penis and vagina?  And if you get HPV how late would genital warts appear, if it is that strand of the virus?

Answer
Dear Megan,

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is possible to transmit HPV through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. However, transmission through oral sex is somewhat less common than through vaginal and anal sex. For whatever reason, HPV prefers genital and anal skin. It is also passed on by skin-to-skin contact. So, for instance, if your partner is infected and is wearing a condom but has genital warts on his testicles and that skin rubs against your genitals, you can potentially be infected even though he was wearing a condom.

There are many kinds of HPV and not all of them cause health problems. Some kinds of HPV may cause problems like genital warts or cervical cancer. HPV types 16 and 18 cause about 70% of cervical cancers. HPV types 6 and 11 cause about 90% of genital warts. Most people who have a genital HPV infection do not know they are infected. The virus lives in the skin or mucous membranes and usually causes no symptoms. Some people get visible genital warts, or have pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, vulva, anus, or penis. Very rarely, HPV infection results in anal or genital cancers.

Genital warts usually appear as soft, moist, pink, or flesh-colored swellings, usually in the genital area. They can be raised or flat, single or multiple, small or large, and sometimes cauliflower shaped. They can appear on the vulva, in or around the vagina or anus, on the cervix, and on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh. After sexual contact with an infected person, warts may appear within weeks or months, or again, not at all. There are many treatment choices for genital warts. But even after the warts are treated, the virus might still be there and may be passed on to others. If genital warts are not treated they may go away, stay the same, or increase in size or number, but they will not turn into cancer.

I hope this information has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda