There is now a vaccine women can get so they wont get the strain that causes cervical cancer. Genital warts are a sexually transmitted disease. I have read nothing that indicates they can lay dormant in someones system for a year. Therefore, I suspect infidelity.

Your friend should be concerned. Unprotected sex will put her at risk for contracting not only genital warts, but also myriad other diseases. Sexual activity is risky. Using condoms is practicing "safer sex." You can still get diseases from contact with the areas of the groin that are not covered, as in Herpes and genital warts.

Here's an idea. Tell your friend to practice abstinence. That is 100% safe. She should wait to marry someone that she has spent years getting to know and can be reasonably sure they are disease free and truly monogamous in nature. Just a though. Good luck. HPV - the disease that causes genital warts can lay dormant for a long period of time before manifesting itself in the actual form of genital warts. Yes - it is possible that he had them before her. It is also possible that she has the HPV virus now without any symptoms or warts. In a lot of women, it doesn't show up as "warts" at all - but rather displasia of the skin cells lining the cervix - which can cause abnormal pap smears. She should go to her gynecologist to have a check up - and make sure that everything down there is alright. Left unchecked, HPV can lead to pre-cancerous cells and even cancer of the cervix.