Genital warts | |
---|---|
Other names | Condylomata acuminata, venereal warts, anal warts, anogenital warts |
Severe case of genital warts around the anus of a female | |
Specialty | Infectious disease[1] |
Symptoms | Small bumps in skin of genital area, varying sizes and shapes but typically protrude out, burning, itch[2][3] |
Usual onset | 1-8 months following exposure[4] |
Causes | HPV types 6 and 11[5] |
Diagnostic method | Based on symptoms, can be confirmed by biopsy[5] |
Differential diagnosis | Molluscum contagiosum, skin tag, condylomata lata, squamous-cell carcinoma[3] |
Prevention | HPV vaccine, condoms[4][6] |
Treatment | Medications, cryotherapy, surgery[5] |
Medication | Podophyllin, imiquimod, trichloroacetic acid[5] |
Frequency | ~1% (US)[4] |
Genital warts are a sexually transmitted infection caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV).[1] They may be flat or project out from the surface of the skin, and their color may vary; brownish, white, pale yellow, pinkish-red, or gray.[1][2][3] There may be a few individual warts or several, either in a cluster or merged together to look cauliflower-shaped.[2][7] They can be itchy and feel burning.[2] Usually they cause few symptoms, but can occasionally be painful.[5] Typically they appear one to eight months following exposure.[4] Warts are the most easily recognized symptom of genital HPV infection.[4]
HPV types 6 and 11 are responsible for causing majority of genital warts whereas HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, and 35 are also occasionally found.[5] It is spread through direct skin-to-skin contact, usually during oral, manual, vaginal, or anal sex with an infected partner.[4][8] Diagnosis is generally based on symptoms and can be confirmed by biopsy.[5] The types of HPV that cause cancer are not the same as those that cause warts.[9]
Some HPV vaccines can prevent genital warts as may condoms, with the quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccines providing virtually complete protection.[10][4][6] Treatment options include creams such as podophyllin, imiquimod, and trichloroacetic acid.[5] Cryotherapy or surgery may also be an option.[5] After treatment warts often resolve within six months.[4] Without treatment, in up to a third of cases they resolve on their own.[4]
About 1% of people in the United States have genital warts.[4] Many people, however, are infected and do not have symptoms.[4] Without vaccination nearly all sexually active people will get some type of HPV at one point in their lives.[9][11] The disease has been known at least since the time of Hippocrates in 300 BC.[12]