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So, a couple floored me and admitted they're positive for genital warts. My initial reaction was, "why the f*ck are you swinging!!?" I, of course, started looking into what it means and how it's transmitted. Genital warts are very contagious. You can get them during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with an infected partner. You can also get them by skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, or (rarely) oral sex with someone who is infected. About two-thirds of people who have sexual contact with a partner with genital warts will develop warts, usually within 3 months of contact. If you are infected but have no symptoms, you can still spread HPV to your sexual partner and/or develop complications from the virus. So, would you advise your immediate play group to avoid them, since they're obviously not taking themselves out of the game? They're still having oral and kissing (I witnessed this), and who knows what else. It's incredibly selfish of them to still be showing up at swing events, in my opinion. What do we do? Thanks, Mrs. D

I wouldn't tell anyone to avoid them. I would discuss HPV in general terms and find out what my play group knows. BTDT and discovered no one cared. HPV is simply too widespread. (HSV-1 is also) "Oh, I had a wart, the doctor took care of it" was the most common response to questions about genital warts. The next most common comment was "I had a PAP test that wasn't normal and was treated. The doctor said it was from HPV but I'm good now. I just need lots of follow up tests." And while the ladies were treated for HPV when the PAP was abnormal (and took a short break during treatment) their male partners still played on......cuz there is no test for HPV for guys. Heck, with some studies showing oral cancers may be associated with HPV, one guy who has been treated for cancer, twice, and admits it may be from HPV, still plays. Could he pass it orally? If someone really, really doesn't want to be exposed to anything, Don't Swing. The next safe way would be a very tight, closed, group to play with-and everyone is educated about all the different germies out there. If anyone in the group 'cheats' though....... Most of the people we know are not educated enough about health to know when they are putting someone at risk for something. And the rest can be told of a wart and treatment and not know of any risk they are taking by playing with someone who knows they recently had a wart. (sigh). We discovered this and decided to keep playing cuz the benefits are worth the risks to us. Same as those who do other risky hobbies.