Hi Shels

Most people who have ever been sexually active have encountered hpv-it's incredibly common. The testing is for high risk hpv, which can cause cervical cell changes, whereas warts are caused by low risk strains of hpv. There are many, many strains, and there's no value in knowing the actual strain number.

It doesn't mean that anyone has cheated-the virus can come and go, and be dormant or active in your system. so you could have had it for a much longer time-it's only recently that the screening service has checked for hpv first-before that the checks were for abnormal cells. The good news is that you don't have these, so the standard protocol would be to check you again in a year. In that time, your immune system may well have suppressed the virus and you could have a negative result. 
 

I never recommend Google-it is more likely to give you anxiety than actually help you. Having hpv doesn't give symptoms or lumps-but high risk strains can cause changes to cervical cells. These can be picked up early via the screening process and easily treated if necessary. Having hpv doesn't mean you would ever have abnormal cells, far less cancer so try not to worry about this. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to help if I can. x