analog2000

Not exactly. HPV stands for Human Papilloma Virus, which basically means viruses that cause warts. There are over 100 different types of HPV, but there are only about 30 types of GENITAL HPV. You can get warts pretty much anywhere on your body. But for whatever reason, the different strains of HPV generally like to confine themselves to only one place on your body. The virus that causes warts on your hands likes to stay on your hands, the virus that causes warts on your foot likes to stay on your foot, etc. When most people talk about HPV, what they are really talking about (especially on this board) is genital HPV.

For example - I have both genital warts AND warts on my hands. Most likely these are caused by two completely different strains of HPV. The genital warts are caused by one of the genital HPV strains, and the warts on my hands are caused by some other type of the virus. That is why when you get warts on one part of your body, they do not usually spread to other parts. All the different types of HPV like to stay in their own "territory." So you probably do not need to worry about warts on your genitals spreading to your hands, and vice versa.

Now, everything changes when your immune system is severely compromised, from (for example) if you have end state AIDS, are undergoing chemotherapy, or have taken cortico-steroids long term. People with compromised immune systems CAN have outbreaks of the various types of HPV in places they would not usually show up. Such as genital warts spreading to your throat, etc. That type of thing is pretty rare and usually only happens to people who are very sick.

So, to get back to the beginning, you probably cannot spread genital HPV to other parts of your body (including your hands), you don't have to worry about touching yourself when you masturbate, and warts on your hands are probably not sexually transmitted.

I hope this makes sense. HPV is an incredibly confusing virus.

Good luck everyone.