Genital Warts
(Human Papillomavirus Infection, or HPV Infection)
What is HPV (human papillomavirus)?
HPV is a virus that causes warts. There are many types of HPV.
Some of the types of HPV that cause genital warts also cause cancer.
The cancer you get from HPV occurs in the part of your body where the infection is. So if the infection is on your cervix (the lower part of your uterus that opens in to your vagina), you may get cervical cancer. If the infection is in your throat, you may get throat cancer.
How do I get an HPV infection?
HPV passes from person to person through touching. You get the types of HPV that cause genital warts by having sexual contact, including oral sex, with an infected person.
People can have an HPV infection without knowing it, so you may not know if the person you're having sex with is infected. You may not know you have an HPV infection because:
What are genital warts?
Genital warts are small bumps in or around your genital area.
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Genital warts are common—8 out of 10 women are infected at least one time by age 50
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Warts may appear on your crotch, around your anus, on your penis (men), or inside your vagina (women)
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Most infections go away on their own in 1 to 2 years
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Infections that don't go away increase the chance of cancer
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There are vaccines to prevent most types of genital warts that cause cancer
What are the symptoms of genital warts?
How can doctors tell if I have genital warts?
To test for cancer, your doctor may remove the warts and send them to a laboratory. If warts are on the cervix, your doctor may also do a Pap test. With a Pap test, the doctor collects a sample of cells from your cervix during a pelvic exam for examining under a microscope.
To test for syphilis, your doctor will do a blood test.
How do doctors treat genital warts?
How can I prevent genital warts?
A vaccine (given by a shot) can prevent HPV.
Condoms help, but they can’t fully prevent genital warts because skin that is not covered by the condom can be infected by HPV.
