My Girlfriend has HPV

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hey Doc, Ive been dating an amazing girl for about 4 months now. She, being caring and responsible, informed me that she was diagnosed with a high risk hpv strain. We haven't had sex. We both really want to. And we both want to be safe..... How can we be safe? what are our options?

Dear Frank: Genital warts are nonmalignant and appear as a flat lesion, a tiny cauliflower like bump or a tiny stem like protrusion. HPV infections of types 6 and 11 cause most genital warts. These HPV types are generally not associated with cancer. HPV 16, 18, 31 and 33 are commonly described at high risk HPV varieties due are more likely to lead to the development of cancer,

HPV infections associated with genital warts and related lesions are contracted through sexual intercourse, anal sex and other skin to skin contact in the genital regions. Some HPV infections that result in oral or upper respiratory lesions are contracted through oral sex.

Many treatments are available to remove warts. These treatments appear to reduce the concentration of HPV, but they don't eliminate the virus, in other words even though you may have genital warts removed, you can still transmit HPV to a sexual partner.

You could prevent the transmission of HPV by being in a mutually monogamous sexual relationship with your new partner, and using a latex condom, which may prevent some but not all HPV transmission. If you need more information about treatments or any other doubt, don’t hesitate to ask. I wish you the best.