Genital Warts - 7 Established Facts About Genital Warts

Here are seven established facts about genital warts.

1. Genital warts are highly contagious.

Genital warts spread easily from one person to another through sexual intercourse. Human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus responsible for genital warts, is able to penetrate one's skin and mucosal surfaces through the tiny abrasions in the genital area that develop during sexual intercourse.

2. Genital warts are incurable.

Once you catch HPV, you can never eliminate it from your body. You can treat it and remove the genital warts, but it remains dormant in your system. Thus, genital warts can show up again.

3. Genital warts may resurface.

HPV can lie dormant in your body. It can resurface when triggered by risk factors like smoking, stress, excessive consumption of alcohol, immune system deficiencies, and lifestyle changes, among others. In fact, a lot of people are not aware that they have HPV in their system. Many men do have genital warts on their penis and remain unaware of their presence since they may be very tiny and hidden. A lot of women also have genital warts but remain oblivious because they occur internally in many cases. Only 10 percent of genital warts are noticeable.

4. Genital warts can be treated and get rid of.

There are different therapy options for genital warts removal depending on their size and location. If you consult your doctor, he or she may advise you to apply a topical medication or undergo electrocautery (burning), cryosurgery (freezing), or laser treatment. Some people also attest to the efficacy of herbal preparation in getting rid of genital warts.

5. Genital warts cannot spread from your genitals to other parts of your body and vice versa.

There are at least 150 types of HPV. The strains that are responsible for genital warts occur only in the genital region. They spread through direct contact with the skin of an infected partner through vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse. Infection may happen through contact with a visible genital wart or through subclinical infection, meaning contact with an area of the skin with no visible genital wart. Following sexual intercourse with an infected person, genital warts may take a few weeks to several years to manifest.

6. You can do something to prevent further development of genital warts.

Many studies have proven that having a healthy immune system helps a lot in preventing the outbreak of genital warts. For those who have had genital warts, physicians require specific supplements that boost the immune system like selenium, green tea extract, bioflavins, and grape seed extract.

7. Genital warts may cause cervical cancer.

Approximately 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer are caused by types 16 and 18 of HPV. HPV causes the outer layer of normal cells of the cervical transformation zone (TZ) to be replaced by cancer cells. Such a change is only detected in the early stages through a Pap smear. In fact, 90 percent of deaths arising from cervical cancer could have been prevented through early detection. Hence, it is imperative that all women who are sexually active have regular Pap smears.