Is there a way to prevent genital warts?
Yes, vaccination is successful in preventing genital warts at rates higher than 90%.
How can you protect yourself?
Genital warts are a sexually transmitted disease. Only people who have never had any sexual contact are not at risk of becoming infected.
The best prevention policy is vaccination.
The following preventive measures are also recommended:
- Restriction of the number of sexual partners
- Careful selection of your sexual partner. The more sexual partners a person has in their history, the higher the chances that they have been infected.
- Monogamous relationships are considered ideal.
- The use of a condom prevents the transmission of HPV by 70% and is recommended.
- Have regular check-ups with Pap tests and HPV tests in women, to detect in time any precancerous lesions on the cervix.
What should you do to avoid infecting others?
If you currently have genital warts, you must get treatment. The infection is very easily transmitted to people you have sexual intercourse with. It would be ideal not to have any contacts until the warts are treated.
However, you must also know that, for approximately 6 months after the appearance of warts, you can very easily transmit the infection to others. Therefore, it is best to use a condom during sexual intercourse.
Is there any point in getting vaccinated if you have ever had genital warts in the past?
The vaccine also covers other types of HPV, so you should get it. It has also been reported that, in people with warts, vaccination results in a reduction of recurrences.
