How Long Until Male HPV Is Not Contagious?
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Understanding HPV
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The human papillomavirus, or HPV, can infect either men or women. However, not all types of HPV are the same. There are 130 known HPV trains, causing a variety of symptoms. Some strains cause warts, others cause cancer, and a few are perfectly harmless. The strains that cause warts do not cause cancer, however, and the reverse is also true. HPV infection is the leading cause of cervical cancer in women, which is why the virus is most closely associated with females. Men are not immune from symptoms, though, and could develop warts, cancer of the penis or cancer of the anus due to infection.
How to Recognize Infection
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Some HPV strains can lie dormant in the body for years without causing any symptoms, but most infections clear up in a year or two. In men, common physical signs of infection can include the development of warts, including genital warts. The development of penis or anus cancer may be a sign of high-risk HPV infection. Unfortunately, there are no reliable, government-approved tests for HPV infection in men, so it can be difficult for a male to know whether he is carrying HPV until physical symptoms manifest.
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When HPV is Contagious
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Because there is no reliable way for a man to know if he carries a strain of HPV that may be harmful to a woman but not to himself, there is also no reliable way to tell if a man is contagious. There are good indicators of cleared infections when it comes to the strains of HPV that cause warts, however. If the immune system has cleared an outbreak of warts by itself, there is a good possibility that particular infection no longer exists. If no more outbreaks of warts occur a year after surgical removal, this is also a sign that the infection has cleared. Without accurate testing, though, consistent and responsible use of contraceptives is still the best way to ensure against the spread of HPV.
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