Genital Warts

Condylomata Acuminata

Genital warts, or anal warts are caused by the human papilloma virus(HPV). This virus manages to infect over 5 million people in the US evey year, in fact it is the most common sexually transmitted disease. There are many different strains of the virus, some may cause cancer.

Genital warts are mostly asymptomatic, and may not be visible. However, a person may carry the virus and manage to infect a partner during unprotected sex.

The wart infection may not manifest for sometime after contact with an infected person. Because the virus has a long incubation period, anything from three weeks to eight months after the person has become infected, the virus is easily spread before the diagnosis has been made. The latency of the appearance of the virus becomes a problem, if the infected person has had multiple partners during that time, without the use of condoms.

When the warts are visible they appear as, soft, moist, flesh-colored flat or cauliflower-like growths ,clustering around the external genitalia. In women, the warts occur on the outside and inside of the vagina, on the opening to the uterus (cervix), or around the anus.

In men, genital warts are less common. If present, they usually are seen on the tip of the penis. They also may be found on the shaft of the penis, on the scrotum, or around the anus.

 If the genital warts are not visible, the condition may be diagnosed when the woman has a pap smear. Failing this, unless symptoms are present such as burning or itching, genital warts may go undiagnosed. Condoms may not always protect a person from infection, natural condoms offer less protection than the latex ones.

 Because the virus has a long incubation period, anything from three weeks to eight months after the person has become infected, the virus is easily spread before the diagnosis has been made. Other conditions have to be excluded such as molluscum contagiosum, caused by a pox virus, condylomata lata, which are lesions of secondary syphilis, skin tags or sebaceous cysts.

If the warts are not treated, they may produce symptoms of burning, itching or bleeding, but may not necessarily cause cancer.  It has been found that only some strains of the human papilloma virus are capable of causing cancer. For many years, cervical cancer was  one of the most common causes of cancer death in American women. Since 1955 the number of deaths from cervical cancer has declined.

During pregnancy, genital warts may cause problems, particularly if they are located in the vagina.  If the warts are in the vagina, they can make the vagina less elastic and cause obstruction during delivery.Sometimes they get larger during pregnancy, making it difficult to urinate if the warts are in the urinary tract.

 Read more:Home Remedies for Wart

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