A very common sexually-transmitted virus, related to the virus that causes warts elsewhere on the body.
How you get it
Skin-to-skin contact. Vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the warts or the virus.
Symptoms
Usually painless, sometimes itchy warts appear anywhere in the genital region, externally or internally. They have a different appearance depending on where they are: harder and whiter or browner on the outer genitals, softer and pinker inside the vaginal canal or on the cervix. They may appear individually or in clusters.
Prevention
Barrier methods, such as condoms and diaphragms, help reduce the risk, but since it's transmitted skin to skin, you can still get it. Lots of people have warts and don't know it. Others just have the virus and don't know it.
Treatment
Once a doctor has diagnosed warts, they can be frozen, burned, lasered, or just plain cut off. Take-home topical medications are also available. Some untreated warts can just keep growing, possibly breaking and bleeding if they are irritated.
Long-term implications
Some strains of the virus (HPV) that causes warts are also linked with cervical cancer, as well as precancerous conditions of the cervix, although the number of such cases is relatively small. The Pap smear is a reliable way to detect cervical cancer, which is far easier to treat and cure in earlier stages. Every woman needs regular Pap smears, usually once a year. Those who have been diagnosed with HPV may need them as frequently as once every 6 months. Although some people don't ever have recurrences after their treatment, HPV
is a virus and therefore can't be cured. Even if there are no warts visible,
it is believed some HPV cases stay in the body for life, just like the
herpes, hepatitis, and human immunodeficiency viruses.
