You should wait to have sex at least two weeks after your warts have cleared. You should also talk to your sexual partners about your HPV status before engaging in sexual activity. Even if you arent dealing with an outbreak, you can still spread HPV through skin-to-skin contact.

How long after genital warts am I contagious?

“If you had genital warts and theyve cleared up even on their own or with treatment and another three to six months go by, probably, for the most part, youre not going to transmit them,” says Handfield.

How long can you have genital warts before they show up?

If you have symptoms, they will probably occur 2 to 3 months after infection. But you can have symptoms from 3 weeks to many years after infection. Visible genital warts appear only during active infection. But it is possible to spread the virus even if you cant see the warts.

How often do HPV warts recur?

The rate of GW recurrence, defined as the detection of GWs and the same human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype at a site where they were previously detected, was found to be 44.3% after the first GW episode. The number of recurrent episodes could be as high as 10 during the median follow-up of 50.4 months.

Does HPV 6 and 11 go away?

HPV types 6 and 11, which are linked to genital warts, tend to grow for about 6 months, then stabilize. Sometimes, visible genital warts go away without treatment. If you need treatment, your doctor can prescribe a cream that you can use at home.