HSV 2 and HPV Transmission Questions

[Health Inquirer]

Hello Terri,

I have a few questions regarding certain methods of transmission for HSV 2 and HPV. I am not sure if you can answer the questions about HPV or not, but I put them here in case you can. I am not sure how this affects payment, but if more is needed please let me know.

I have three transmission scenarios I am curious about. For each scenario I am curious the response for both HSV 2 and HPV. I have HSV 2 and at one point in time had HPV (my paps are normal now); however, I am wondering if I may or may not have infected someone in any of the below ways.

1) If someone touches my genital region with their hand and then puts their fingers in their own mouth is it possible they contracted HSV 2 or HPV?

2) If someone touches my genital region and then goes to the bathroom (a man or woman-I have been with both) is it possible they contracted HSV 2 or HPV that way? Women tend to have a barrier with toilet paper and men don’t, so I thought I’d check on both genders.

3) If someone touches my genital region and then masturbates him/herself is it possible he/she contracted HSV 2 or HPV that way? Here I figure the gender probably doesn’t make too much of a difference, but if it does, it would be important for me to know.

I deeply appreciate your time and expertise. And please, let me know if I owe you more or where I stand with you as far as payment goes.

Thank you.

[Terri Warren]

1) If someone touches my genital region with their hand and then puts their fingers in their own mouth is it possible they contracted HSV 2 or HPV?

I think the chances for transmission of HSV-2 in this scenario are very low. The virus requires a certain volume to infect another person and I think that there would unlikely be enough volume in the situation you describe for that to occur. Also HSV-2 does not like the mouth and though it can infect the mouth it doesn’t happen as often as one might think. HPV on the other hand is less discriminating about where it lives. People can carry HPV under their fingernails for example. We don’t know if it is transmitted from fingers but studies have shown that it can be in places we really don’t expect to find it. When you mentioned that you had HPV, did you have the kind of HPV that made your Pap smear abnormal or the kind of HPV that caused an external genital wart?

2) If someone touches my genital region and then goes to the bathroom (a man or woman-I have been with both) is it possible they contracted HSV 2 or HPV that way? Women tend to have a barrier with toilet paper and men don’t, so I thought I’d check on both genders.

I think in this scenario that you describe it would be unlikely once again for herpes to be transmitted in this way. If a woman touched your genitals and then used the bathroom you’re right there is toilet paper normally between her hand and her vagina. With man the same is not true but again we go back to the notion that transmission of herpes requires a substantial quantity of virus to infect another person.

3) If someone touches my genital region and then masturbates him/herself is it possible he/she contracted HSV 2 or HPV that way? Here I figure the gender probably doesn’t make too much of a difference, but if it does, it would be important for me to know.

Of the three situations that you describe, I think the third situation presents likely the most risk for transmission. However even in this situation where someone touches your genitals and then touches their own genitals still need to consider the volume of virus that might be transmitted. I think this is true of either a male or female in the situation with you. Once again HPV is probably more likely to be transmitted then HSV just because the virus is so common and so many people have it and it appears to be less picky about where it goes that herpes is.

As more people are vaccinated against HPV of course, the risk of infection goes down in the general population. We are already seeing in both Australia and the United States a significant drop and HPV infection in young sexually active adults. I can tell that you are worried about low risk situations and you’re trying to figure out what sort of sexual situation is safe for you. I would ask you are you taking daily antiviral therapy? If you aren’t, I think you should consider doing so to reduce your infectivity to others as well as reducing your worry in these situations.

You have to more questions to ask me so please feel free to do so

Terr

[Health Inquirer]

Hello Terri,

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. You asked me if I had the wart causing HPV or the type that caused an abnormal pap smear. It caused an abnormal pap smear. I actually had this a long time ago, but have been learning some new things about it and realize there were others who were at risk from being with me and am just trying to figure out if I should let them know. When I was told about it, I was told I was only contagious if I had warts. I think because it was a long time ago perhaps they didn’t fully understand it at that time. I did have to have a leep (she said I was in the highest dysplasia stage before it were to turn into cancer), but like I said she told me I was contagious if I had warts. So, that definitely conflicts with current science. I figure it is better late then never to inform people especially since HPV can lead to cancer. Also to answer your other question, I am asymptomatic for the HSV2 and am currently not taking anything because I am not currently sexually active and am not planning to be.

One of my questions would be: So, it sounds like from what you are stating with the 3rd scenario being the highest risk and especially with hpv, that it is possible for a man to get hpv from me when he goes to the bathroom after touching my genital region because it can survive under his nails and he has to touch himself in order to go to the bathroom. Am I understanding correctly?

I don’t really seem to have another question. You were very thorough at answering my first inquiry and that really helps me see what the risk was to others when I had hpv and what the hsv2 risk is. If I do have another question, when should I ask by?

Thank you for all of your time and efforts. I appreciate you and what you are doing very much.

[Terri Warren]

You are understanding my statement correctly that number 3 is the highest risk of your scenarios, but all of them are really low risk in my opinion.

By the time a person has had five sex partners in their lifetimes, they likely have at least one type of HPV so if you know something about their sexual history, you can judge whether it would be good to tell people or not.

You have an indefinite time to ask your last question.

Terri

[Health Inquirer]

Hello Terri,

It’s good to know you think they are all extremely low risk. Sorry, I think my last question may have been a little confusing. I was trying to figure out from all that you said if it would also imply that it is possible for a man to get hpv from me when he goes to the bathroom after touching my genital region because it can survive under his nails and he has to touch himself in order to go to the bathroom?

Thank you very much for your time.

[Terri Warren]

I totally understood your question. Of the three scenarios, the highest risk of the last but none of them present a substantial risk.

You are now out of question with this subscription. I hope this clarifies your question.

Terri

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Terri Warren.

[Health Inquirer]

Hi Terri,

I am sorry, but I am feeling confused. I wasn’t meaning to ask about the risk. I was trying to ask if it was possible for a man to get hpv from me when he goes to the bathroom after touching my genital region because it can survive under his nails and he has to touch himself in order to go to the bathroom? I asked that because in the first reply you sent you answered for HSV regarding the bathroom scenario, but not the HPV, so I was trying to determine the answer to that. 🙂

Thank you very much for your efforts.

[Terri Warren]

OK, sorry, is it possible? Anything is possible. I guess knowing that HPV can live under people’s fingernails makes me say it is possible. It is also possible that you could get run over by a truck leaving your home, but that’s very unlikely, right? So is the HPV transmission in this way.

Also, I think if your HPV was a long time ago and you’ve had abnormal paps since, I don’t think I would worry about HPV at this point. What we now know about HPV is that many people do clear the virus after a while. However, we also now know that when those same people, when severely immunocompromised, may show virus once again.

My honest opinion about your questions is that you are trying very hard to do the right thing but in this case, you are overthinking it a bit.

Terri

[Health Inquirer]

Hello Terri,

Thank you for getting back to me. I apologize it has been a few days for my response, I have been very busy and unable to get to this. You are always very helpful. I am wondering since this question had a level of misunderstanding to it, if I still have one question?

Thank you again.

[Terri Warren]

Go ahead, one more very short question

Terri

[Health Inquirer]

Hello Terri,

Thank you very much.

You stated the 3rd scenario is the highest risk but still low risk (recopying 3rd scenerio for simplicity- If someone touches my genital region and then masturbates him/herself is it possible he/she contracted HSV 2 or HPV that way? ) Since getting hpv is more risky than hsv in this way, I am wondering if you were able to say roughly what the chances are of transmitting hpv in this way? For example, 1 in 10, 1 in 100, 1 in 10,000, and so on. Or if you don’t know for hpv if you know for hsv2?

I know you believe I am over thinking and I appreciate knowing that, but it helps my decision making process. 🙂

Thank you again for this service. My deepest gratitude to you, Terri.

[Terri Warren]

I don’t have any statistics on this type of transmission for herpes or HPV, but I would say well over one in 100,000 chance of either.

Terri

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