If the hpv virus stays in the body forever does that mean you'll be infecting people forever during sex?

There is really no clear answer here.

Most people do build immunity to their shared HPV type or types in a couple of years....other don't build this immunity so easily.

Once the virus goes into a low viral low it is not seen in any test but it still may be in the tissue of cells of your vulva, penis or cervix. HPV can come and go....if your body鈥檚 immune system weakens then it can reactivate years down the road from an initial infection. We can transmit our virus years after all warts or abnormal cell change have been resolved.

For those of us who know we carry the virus it is important for us to share this with new sex partners.

BIRMINGHAM, AL 鈥?Researchers at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) have discovered the mechanism used by a common virus to replicate itself and remain in the human body for decades. Human papillomavirus (HPV), a family of over 100-related viruses, are responsible for a variety of medical conditions, ranging from benign hand or foot warts to genital warts, cervical cancer and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, a potentially fatal disease in children.
In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in March, the research team reports that a viral replication protein known as E2 binds the circular viral DNA to cell structures called spindle fibers that are present in a cell when it divides, a process known as mitosis. In mitosis, a single cell divides in two, creating two genetically identical daughter cells. By latching onto the spindle fibers of the cell as it divides, HPV DNA also divides and replicates itself in each of the new daughter cells where it can continue to replicate and persist indefinitely.
鈥淚n effect, HPV is able to mimic our own chromosomes, behaving as a sort of 鈥榤ini-chromosome鈥? independently replicating and keeping pace as the cellular chromosomes replicate and the cell divides,鈥?says Tom Broker, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics and co-author of the paper. 鈥淭his allows the virus to remain in our bodies indefinitely, with the potential of causing serious disease years, even decades, after first exposure.鈥?br> Broker says that virtually all humans carry at least one type of HPV for much of their lives, usually transmitted to the external skin very early in life or to the internal mucosal lining later during sexual contact. For most people, the virus persists at low levels without causing obvious disease, and the body鈥檚 immune system keeps it in check.
However, in some people, the virus can become activated and cause lesions, particularly if the infected tissue is repeatedly injured, or following periods of emotional or physical stress, during pregnancy, as a result of immunosuppressive therapy for immune disorders or organ transplantation, as a outcome of progressing HIV/AIDS, and even as a consequence of aging.
鈥淭his is a major breakthrough in our quest to find ways to treat the myriad conditions associated with HPV,鈥?says Louise Chow, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics and co-author of the paper. 鈥淭his improves our understanding of the mechanisms the virus uses to reproduce. We now have new molecular targets to aim at for antiviral drug discovery.鈥?br> HPV鈥檚 special mechanism for attaching itself to the mitotic spindles and getting pulled into the daughter cells has not been observed with other families of viruses, according to Chow.
There are about 15,000 new cases of cervical or penile cancer attributed to HPV each year in the US, and nearly 5000 deaths. Worldwide, 600,000 cases occur annually, especially in developing countries without advanced medical diagnostic methods such as Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening, which can detect the activation of HPV early enough for aggressive treatment to be successful.
HPV infection in the throat and respiratory tract, laryngeal papillomatosis, can cause recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in children, who are usually infected at birth from contact with HPV-caused genital warts present in the mother. There are an estimated 2,000 cases per year in the United States
This research was funded by grants from the United States Public Health Service and the National Cancer Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health. Tom Broker is the President of the International Papillomavirus Society. More information on HPV and associated disease can be found at the society鈥檚 Web site at www.IPVSoc.org.

To the person who posted above....they are3,700 death each year due to cervical cancer. Virtually all cervical cancer is linked to HPV. You may not die from the virus but you can die from the complications of a persistent progressive HPV infection.

Virtually all (>99.7%) cervical cancers caused by HPV
American Cancer Society PP presentation
www.wicancer.org/documents/HPV Powerpoint.pdf

Cervical cancer is almost always caused by the human papillomavirus

virus which causes virtually 100 percent of all cervical cancers.

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/cervica...

new study published in the Journal of Pathology documents that human papillomavirus (HPV) is present in virtually all cervical cancers, an estimated 99.7 percent

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/121D7A.htm

HPV and Cervical Cancer
Certain HPV types are classified as "high-risk" because they lead to abnormal cell changes and can cause genital cancers: cervical cancer as well as cancer of the vulva, anus, and penis. In fact, researchers say that virtually all cervical cancers 鈥?more than 99% -- are caused by these high-risk HPV viruses. The most common of the high-risk strains of HPV are types 16 and 18, which cause about 70% of all cervical cancers.
http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/h...

Cervical infections due to a group of about 15 oncogenic, or cancer-causing, human papillomavirus (HPV) types cause virtually all cervical cancers

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts...

Virtually all cervical cancer cases (99%) are linked to genital infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract.
www.who.int/reproductive-health/public...

Persistent infection by certain types of HPV causes virtually all cervical cancers
http://www.wcn.org/interior.cfm?featurei...

HPV come through STDs and its like whatever the doctors don't take it serious like HIV AIDS they trat u like any other patients u can't get sick or die from HPV like you could with HIV

I assume you are talking about the HPV that causes genital warts. There are many strains of hpv, but mostly people refer to this if they are referring to genital warts.
If you are shedding the virus, then yes you can infect someone. You can shed the virus with or without any obvious clinical symptoms. Please go here for more info:
http://www.stdservices.on.net/std/warts/...
HPV is serious because not only can it be spread from mother to child, but some strains of it can increase the risk of cervical cancer.
In other words (in case I was not clear) Yes, once you have HPV, then you always have HPV and there is always a chance that you will infect your partners until the day you die, unless they come up with a cure, that is.
There is a vaccine to prevent certain strains of HPV, ask your Dr. if you are a candidate.