I had my first big outbreak of HPV-1 on the genitals last year, which was (naturally) devastating at the time. Now that I am able to talk about it more openly there has been something on my mind for quite a while now...

I have read and heard that you *could* get it from sharing a towel, and yet I've also heard that that notion is ridiculous. IS it possible?

In my situation, to sum it up:
-had received vigorous oral play from my long-term partner (over 1 year at that point) and his beard left me somewhat tender, and, to put it bluntly, cut-up (note: condom-use had been stopped months before that point)
-later that day, we went to swim at a local public pool
-I relieved myself in the ladies room, which was particularly dirty, and somehow managed to clean myself up with an already moist, cold tissue (I kid you not, this bathroom was dirty)
-I then swam my hardest, argueably a little too much, and upon arriving at home I had bouts of nausea and within 24 hours had some lesions on my genitals

I would like to note that about two months after my first episode, my boyfriend started to get coldsores about 3-4 times a year. Neither of us had shown any symptoms in our entire lives prior to that day. Is it merely coincidence that we both started to show symptoms within months of each other?

I have been told that it was the physical exertion that caused the symptoms to come out, but because I was never able to admit the moist tissue part of the story (because, well, I am still disgusted by it) I was never 100% sure...

With that said, what do you think? Is there even a slight possibility that that could've been the cause of it? It's been haunting me since that day, and I need closure on this for my healing to be complete...

Thank you for any input...

Hi Shao~ I guess I can tell you a little about my experience. My family and I went to splash lagoon (an indoor water park) 3 days after coming home I had my first outbreak of hsv1 on the genitals. Now prior to this, I hadn't had ANY contact with my spouse for at least a month. (this was just due to him having a cold/me having a cold etc...) I saw an infectious disease specialist who did say that there are a few cases where the source of exposure is unknown, but he wouldn't commit to an answer. My husband has never had a cold sore and neither have I. So, your guess is as good as mine. The doc and I discussed the towel theory and he said that is more geared toward if you had a cold sore on your mouth and then wiped yourself elsewhere. But where I went there were towels everywhere. Everything I have read about how you get this doesn't make sense in my case. I wish i had a better answer for you but i wanted you to know that i have similar questions as you do.