Genital warts do not always appear right away. And many people who get HPV never develop warts or any cervical or anal cell changes. It s different for each person. And since genital warts may not appear until weeks, months or years after the infection it may be hard to know exactly when you got the virus and who passed it on to you. HPV is the most common STD in the United States.
Many people infect their partners without meaning to.
You may not know right away that you have an HPV infection or genital warts. Sometimes HPV lives in the skin without causing ANY warts or other skin changes that can be seen at all. Some people will develop visible growths or bumps in the genital area. These are visible genital warts. Some people have tiny changes on the skin that can t be seen with the naked eye.