My Partner has Genital warts

[hollallen]

My partner has been diagnosed with genital anal warts.  Actually I found them by inspection WITH GLOVES.  I did not touch them and we have not had sex in years or intimate contact.  He has basically stayed active himself.  Obviously this has created relationship problems but I do not have genital warts and am concerned about what to do to keep from getting them.  He keeps all his towels and things to himself since he is concerned about spreading it to me and I definitely don't want them.  I am actually thankful we haven't had sex in year or intimate contact since seeing this.  What should I do to protect myself?  I am a 55 year old man.

[HowardH]

Thanks for the follow-up. Best wishes to both of you.

[hollallen]

Thanks for responding Howard and I appreciate your information.  I have not been judgmental in any way toward him.  Yes, maybe  I have overreacted I suppose in my thoughts but not to him.  I do feel sorry for what he has gone through.

I do understand a little about HPV.  I check myself constantly and know I have never had any wart element on me.  I don't know if somehow he gave them to me or not since I have not been with anyone. Without going into all the details I agreed to his openness as long as he did not bring anything home.  Of course that is not  a 100% guarantee I guess.  

There is no test for it and come to think about it, the agreement was made a year ago but it has been about 5 years since we have had sex so I am fairly certain I don't have it. At any rate I have been supportive of my partner but I post this question here because I do not want him to know of my concerns since he has so much on his plate now.

[HowardH]

You are overreacting. Nobody wants genital warts, but for the most part they are an unpleasant inconvenience, not an important health threat. In any case, as a sexually active gay (or maybe bisexual?) man in your mid-fifties, the odds are you have already been infected with the HPV type responsible for your partner's warts, and thus immune to new infection. And at his age, the odds are that this is a recurrence of a distant past HPV infection -- to which you were repeatedly exposed many times before your last sex together a year ago. And by the same token, the new appearance of warts doesn't necessarily imply your partner has had sex with other persons recently. It can take up to two years after catching HPV for visible warts to appear.

So my advice is that you need do nothing to protect yourself. I see no reason not to continue (or resume) sex with your partner, and certainly no need for gloves for hand contact with his genital and/or anal warts. (The fingers and hands probably are not susceptible to genital HPV types.)

Finally, depending on how you have communicated with your partner about this, you may owe him an apology -- if you overreacted in his presence in the same way you have here.