Genital warts when is it contagious

They can look soft and fleshy, almost like a skin tag , or they can be rock-hard and large with branches like a cauliflower. When you feel a bump, especially around the opening of the vagina, or behind the vagina, see your doctor. But the HPV warts that are really hard to treat have been there for months and have hardened. Most women will get the HPV virus and their body can handle it. But women with persistent HPV infections are the ones we want to identify.

I want to see a young woman three or four years after her first sexual encounter to see if her body can handle the virus.

Is she having persistent infections, which could be a predictor of cervical cancer? Those are the women we want to find, so we can treat any precancers.

When a woman has visible HPV warts, should she stop having sex? Once you have HPV warts, are you always contagious? You spread more viral particles when you have a concentration of warts.

Get rid of the warts. We can treat fresh warts with easy topical therapies. There are three creams your doctor can prescribe for external genital warts that can be applied at home. Podofilox works by destroying the skin of the wart. Sinecatechins is a green tea extract, which is applied three times a day for up to 16 weeks. Green tea is an antioxidant.

You use it in ointment form sold as Veregen. We can snip them off if they have a tiny base. Or we can freeze them with acids to dehydrate them and kill the cells. Are HPV warts a danger during pregnancy? Does the HPV vaccine protect against genital warts? Yes, Gardasil 9 , which is the HPV vaccine used in the United States today, as well as the original Gardasil vaccine, protect against the HPV 6 and 11, which cause 90 percent of genital warts.

Cervarix, a vaccine that is no longer available in the United States but is available elsewhere in the world, protects only against HPV type 16 and 18, which significantly raise the risk of cervical, genital, and oropharyngeal cancers. This usually isn't painful. Sometimes, warts come back after treatment. This is because the treatments can't get rid of all of the HPV in the body.

How long genital warts last can vary from person to person. Sometimes, the immune system clears the warts within a few months.

But even if the warts go away, the HPV might still be active in the body. So the warts can come back. Usually within 2 years, the warts and the HPV are gone from the body. People with genital warts definitely can spread HPV. But even after the warts are gone, HPV might still be active in the body. That means it can spread to someone else through sex or close sexual contact and cause warts in that person. It's hard to know when people are no longer contagious, because there's no blood test that looks for HPV.

Genital warts and other types of HPV can be prevented by a vaccine. The HPV vaccine series is recommended for all kids when they're 9—11 years old. Older teens and adults also can get the vaccine up to age HPV almost always spreads through sex. So the best way to prevent it is to not have sex vaginal, oral, or anal. If someone does decide to have sex, using a condom every time for sex vaginal, oral, anal helps prevent HPV and other STDs. Someone diagnosed with genital warts should have an honest conversation with sexual partners.

Partners need to be seen by a health care provider who can check for genital warts and do screenings for other STDs. For women, this will most often involve a gynecological exam and Pap test, followed by a tissue biopsy if abnormal cells are detected. Biopsies for men are far more rare and are generally not recommended by doctors. For women without visible genital warts, diagnosing the presence of HPV will often involve undergoing a gynecological exam.

This exam will typically include a Pap test sometimes called a Pap smear. If abnormal cells are found on the cervix, further tests will be carried out to screen for HPV infection, as well as the presence of cervical cancer. There is no cure for genital warts — no way to remove HPV from the patient's system — meaning that treatment is focussed on removing the warts or preventing them from spreading.

The direction that treatment will take depends on the amount of warts present, their location and their physical appearance.

Some patients will choose to undergo no treatment for genital warts. This option is perfectly safe but will generally prolong the problem. If the patient does opt for treatment, there are a number of different options to explore:. Although they are not percent reliable, the use of condoms remains the most effective way of preventing the contraction genital warts.

There are also HPV vaccines available. These vaccines do not protect against all strains of HPV but may be effective in preventing genital warts. To help protect against genital warts, condoms should be used every time vaginal, anal or oral intercourse is engaged in.

Apart from celibacy, this is the most effective prevention method currently known of. However, using a condom does not guarantee full protection. The virus may be able to spread from genital skin not covered by the condom. A HPV vaccine can be effective in preventing genital warts, as well as other conditions including cervical cancer.

These vaccines are most effective if given before a young person becomes sexually active and are usually given between 11 and 13 years of age. Catch-up programs are sometimes available up to the age of 26, but vaccination in people over 26 has been shown to be ineffective. There are a number of vaccines available Gardasil and Cervarix, for example , each protecting against a number of different HPV strains. No vaccine is able to protect against all strains of HPV, nor guarantee defence against all types of genital warts.

The human papillomavirus HPV that causes genital warts can also cause several forms of cancers, including: [8]. Q: Should sexual intercourse be avoided when genital warts are present? A: Yes. HPV is highly contagious, meaning sexual intercourse should be avoided to prevent passing the virus on. If this is not possible, a condom should be worn. Q: Genital warts during pregnancy — should I be worried?

A: Generally, no. It is unlikely that HPV will be passed from mother to baby before or during childbirth. Q: Can genital warts be contracted from oral sex? To prevent the spread of genital warts through oral sex, a condom should be worn at all times.