Dear Yvonne,
Thanks so much for being available to answer all my questions.  I have a question about herpes and HPV (warts).  My friend told me that you can still get both of these sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) even if you are using a condom.  How is this possible?  I hear if there is even skin contact you can get the disease.  Well, how come when you touch someone’s hands with warts, you don’t end up getting warts all over your hand?  Am I making any sense?  Thanks for being here for all our questions Yvonne!

Always,

Sandi

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Hi Sandi:

You most certainly can contract HPV and/or herpes even if you use condoms. Unfortunate, but true.

The reason is that condoms don’t always cover the body parts where these viruses can live. Herpes sores, as well as abnormal cell growth and warts caused by HPV, can live in a wide region of your genitalia – so they could be in your vagina, anus or rectum, labia majora and minora, and thighs. If you have a male partner, these bugs can live not only on his penis, but on his scrotum, anus and rectum, and thighs as well. If you have skin-to-skin contact with an infected partner, you could contract either one of these…even if you don’t have “real sex.” 

The key to transmitted herpes and HPV is not just the casual kind of skin contact that you would have during a handshake, but more vigorous contact that involves rubbing or grinding skin together – something that results in little abrasions in your skin that allow viruses to get through.

So what to do?
Should you cover your whole body in a sheet of latex every time you have sex? Or should you stop having sex entirely? Well, those are certainly two options, but probably not very realistic options for most of us.

Instead, you could start talking to your partner(s) about STIs and safer sex. Find out each other’s testing history, and if you aren’t sure about your STI status, get tested.  Or come up with a contingency plan for what you would do if you contracted herpes and/or HPV. You can freak out and cry for a while, sure, but at some point you will feel like having sex again. How would you bring this up to a partner? How would you prevent transmission?

Herpes and HPV are unpleasant but certainly not the end of the world. They’re both common; it’s estimated that 50-80% of us will contract at least one strain of HPV in our lifetimes (according to the CDC), and 20-25% of us will contract genital herpes. Some great resources to find out more about these infections are:

Center for Disease Control

American Social Health Association: HPV

American Social Health Association: Herpes

Westover Heights Clinic

For people who are infected and want to meet and perhaps date other HSV and HPV positive folks, check out Dating with Herpes for a comparative chart of herpes and HPV online dating services.

One important thing to note that I’ll cover in a future column: intercourse isn’t the only way to catch a sexually transmitted infection (STI), especially herpes. Oral sex poses a risk, too.

I hope this answers your question – and feel free to ask me some more!

Yvonne

Posted on February 5th, 2009 by yvonne
Filed under: ask_yvonne