In theory, if you and your partner have been infected with one type of HPV, you should now be immune to that type. This means you should not get it again. However, studies have shown that natural immunity to HPV is poor and you can be reinfected with the same HPV type.
Can you pass HPV back and forth with your partner? – unlike STIs like chlamydia, it is unlikely that you will pass the same strain of HPV back and forth with your partner.
Partners who are sexually intimate only with each other are not likely to pass the same virus back and forth. When HPV infection goes away the immune system will remember that HPV type and keep a new infection of the same HPV type from occurring again.
While HPV doesn't come back after clearing completely, it's difficult to know if an infection has actually been resolved or is simply dormant. Additionally, while you're unlikely to be reinfected with the exact same type of HPV, you can be infected with another strain.
Other factors that may contribute to or help trigger a recurrence of HPV include the use of certain medications that can impair the immune system (e.g., immunosuppression drugs), serious illness, surgery, or HIV infection. The truth is, experts are still not entirely clear about recurrence of HPV.
A potentially more common but less pronounced form of HPV reactivation likely occurs in all women as they undergo age-related hormonal and immunologic changes. For example, approximately 8% of women with carcinogenic HPV had recurrent detection after a negative test, which was associated with older age (9).
You're contagious for as long as you have the virus — regardless of whether or not you have symptoms. For example, even if your genital warts have disappeared, you can still spread the HPV that caused them if the virus is still in your body. Once your immune system destroys the virus, you're no longer contagious.
Those who said they were depressed or believed they had high levels of stress also still had an active HPV infection. HPV usually clears up on its own, but this study is really the first to indicate a link between stress and persistent HPV infection.
HPV is a sexually-acquired virus. Even if you were to have sex with a single partner in your life, using condoms every time, there is an 80% chance you will acquire HPV in your lifetime. HPV can be spread by contact between genital skin, so LGBQTI people can also get the virus.
Around 90% of HPV infections clear within 2 years. For a small number of women and people with a cervix, their immune system will not be able to get rid of HPV. This is called a persistent infection. A persistent HPV infection causes the cells of the cervix to change.
However, studies have shown that natural immunity to HPV is poor and you can be reinfected with the same HPV type. In some cases, some people will not get the same type of HPV again, but in some cases other people will get the same type of HPV again.
But women's risk for HPV is not over yet: There is sometimes a second peak around the age of menopause. Why? A study released early in 2013 of women 35 to 60 years old found that HPV in women at or after menopause may represent an infection acquired years ago.
Since this foot condition can be spread through contact due to HPV, there is a possibility that warts can be spread through an infected person's contact with bed sheets.
Don't panic
In most cases, your body is able to fight HPV on its own, and the virus will go away without causing any health problems in one or two years.
Most HPV infections (9 out of 10) go away by themselves within 2 years. But sometimes, HPV infections will last longer and can cause some cancers. HPV infections can cause cancers of the: Cervix, vagina, and vulva.
It is most commonly spread during vaginal or anal sex. It also spreads through close skin-to-skin touching during sex. A person with HPV can pass the infection to someone even when they have no signs or symptoms. If you are sexually active, you can get HPV, even if you have had sex with only one person.
The main feature of HPV is genital warts, but not all children will develop them. Even though HPV is called an STI, it can be transmitted through non-sexual routes like hand to hand contact, or from mother to child during a vaginal delivery, for example.
It's your decision whether or not to tell your partner you have HPV. If you do decide to tell your partner you have HPV, it might help to include these points: HPV is very common in women and men who have ever had sex - four out of five people will have HPV at some point in their lives, and most won't even know it.
Options include freezing (cryosurgery), laser, surgical removal, loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) and cold knife conization.
Although most HPV infections go away within two years, some will not. HPV infections that do not go away can "hide" in the body for years and not be detected. That's why it is impossible to know exactly when someone got infected, how long they've been infected, or who passed the infection to them.
While sexual intercourse is the primary means of transmission, genital-to-genital interactions, oral-to-genital interactions, or deep (French) kissing can also spread the virus.
It seems to vary from person to person. Some people clear their HPV infections within a few months, while others can have dormant HPV for decades—possibly the rest of their lives.
If you have low-risk HPV that doesn't go away, it can transform into genital warts. In that case, genital warts are treated by cutting them out or burning them off. There's no guarantee that genital warts won't grow back again because HPV changes the cells of your body in a way that makes them likely to grow.