I recently ended a relationship with a girlfriend who had HPV. The first time we had sex was almost a year and a half ago and I'm assuming that I got the virus as well at some point. Her tests showed the virus was not of a serious nature and neither of us ever developed genital warts. Would my body have gotten rid of the virus by now? Should I be concerned about passing it on to future partners? If it never caused any health problems is there any point in worrying about it?

We wish we had the clear answers to this question. It sounds as if her HPV was found to be low risk on genetic testing. You cannot assume you don't have active HPV and may be still capable of infecting a future partner, but there is no "test" that confirms you do or don't have it when there are no lesions visible.

You and your future partners are best served by you wearing a condom at all times with genital contact. It is not a perfect prevention strategy but can help. We think in most cases HPV generally runs its course in 18-24 months, so that may be the length of time from the end of the relationship that you need to wait.

Better yet, your future partners should have the HPV vaccine which does increase immunity to high risk HPV strains and once the vaccine is approved for men, you should too.