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Worried father about Hpv wart transmission

Hi, I'm a Married father of 2 children and Ive had a wart on or near my scrotum that went away with home treatment years ago. My wife was vaccinated before we got together. I for the most part have had a shower seperate from the one my children use until recently the past year. My children started getting warts on their knees and legs and I've found them playing on the floor of the shower we now share. I've always been sure the clean up by spraying the showed down after washing up but mostly with the hot water turned up no chemicals.
I've been losing sleep wondering if the warts are from me and are hpv or something like common warts they got from other children. The pediatrician thinks they're common warts, but I can't stop thinking about it not being that.
I've masturbated in that shower but again sprayed down after wards and wash my hands. We don't use the same loofah of towels.
I've been going crazy thinking about this and finally decide to reach out.
I always wash my hands after sex and masturbating and going to bathroom, but I can't stop thinking that that is enough to not spread hpv.
Can It spread using the same bathroom and by my hands touching things, picking them up and playing, or washing our laundry together of am I just over thinking it.
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Oh hon.

First, let me say that I appreciate the love and care for your family.

However, you've spent way too long worrying about this, and way overthinking this.

You don't know that what you had on your scrotum was a wart, but let's assume for this post that it was. 90% of people will clear HPV from their bodies within 2 years. Since you've had no more symptoms, you can assume that yours has gone, and it was gone long ago.

Second, the strains of HPV that affect the genitals don't affect other parts of the body. There are hundreds of strains of HPV - plantar warts, for example, only affect the feet. The strains that affect the genitals don't affect the feet, legs, arms, hands, etc. What your kids have isn't because you may have had genital warts years ago. Those are totally different strains.

Even if you currently had active genital warts on your body, the warts your kids' have wouldn't have come from you. You wouldn't need a separate shower, or separate laundry, or special chemicals.

So take a moment and let it sink in - you don't have HPV any longer, if you ever did (and if you were diagnosed by a doctor, then you probably did, but you don't mention that). You weren't ever infectious to your kids, and depending on how long after you had the wart to when you met your wife, you may not have been infectious to her.

I think it's always a good idea to not share towels - people get fungal infections like yeast, jock itch, etc., and those can spread with sharing towels, but you don't need any special precautions for HPV. You don't have it any longer. Even if you did, you wouldn't be a walking biohazard. It's called a sexually transmitted disease because you need sexual contact to spread it.

I hope this helps.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-papillomavirus-(hpv)-and-cervical-cancer -

"HPV infections usually clear up without any intervention within a few months after acquisition, and about 90% clear within 2 years."



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2 Comments
Thank you for your kind words.  I was never diagnosed but I had an ex who was, and put apple cider vinegar on it till it went away due to lack of insurance and embarrassment. I've went a long time without ever thinking about it after meeting and hearing my wife tell me she was protected against it when we got std test done in the beginning of the relationship.  I've been going crazy since they got their warts and have been checking my self constantly and going crazy to the point of thinking every little thing could be a start of a  wart And I've stopped wanting to touch my self. What worried me the most was the masturbating I was doing and what was left on my hands after washing with soap twice, terrified because I made contact with my children skin some point after during to day
HPV (and other STDs) aren't transmitted by hands. https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20190215/hands-dont-spread-hpv-study-finds

Even if it was (it isn't), washing your hands with soap and water normally would kill the virus, if you still had it, which you don't.

So did you have it? Maybe. Did the apple cider vinegar treat it? Maybe. Maybe time just took care of it. Who knows? What we do know is that you don't have it anymore, you aren't infectious anymore, you can't give someone something you don't have.

You can masturbate (and washing your hands after masturbation is always a good idea, really, but just because of natural messes), you can shower in the same bathroom as everyone else, and you don't have to worry anymore.

If you can't let this go, and I imagine letting it go after all this time will be tricky, don't hesitate to seek some counseling. It sounds like maybe you have some anxiety or OCD happening? Hang in there. It's all really okay.

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