Resolved question:
Hello doctor, I am a 28 years old female. I am married about 2 years ago and was sexually very active then. I had an abortion about two months ago due to nothing but unplanned pregnancy. I regret greatly on it, now. Recently, I found a bump in my genital area and to understand what the problem is, I went to my doctor. He suggested doing a pap smear test and I did it. Now I am waiting for the result of the pap. He told that it is a wart and asked me to use Aldara. I didn’t have these bumps before I got pregnant. But my partner had some bumps in penis before I got pregnant. I doubt, it is something like genital warts I got it from him. Do you think that I have contracted the virus from him? Also, if it is a viral infection, should I have to bear it for the rest of life? I am really worried at this situation. Is there a chance that I may transmit this to my child, by birth? Please suggest some ways to avoid this. Thanks for your time.
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Thanks for your question and concern about genital warts. As you may know, genital warts are caused by Human Papilloma Virus and so, is a viral disease. It is usually seen as a sexually transmitted infection. After getting contracted with the virus, it may not show any particular symptoms for some time. Even if the patient is affected, the virus may be dormant in the body, due to our immune system. This can be spread from person to person by just skin to skin contact and not by penetrative sex. Condoms can give a minimal protection if the warts are in the shaft of penis. But if the virus is on some other area than the shaft condom will be helpless in providing protection. Abstaining from sex with partners having infection is the easiest way to prevent getting infected. Also, there are vaccines available which can prevent infection, once the course is completed. Gardasil vaccine is the best known vaccine against HPV and it provides protection from 4 most common types of HPV infections. It consists of 3 shots taken once in 6 months, for a lifetime protection. To rule out a chance of HPV outbreak, a pap smear test is done to find abnormal cell growths in cervix. Some types of HPVs can cause cervical cancer and so, you need to be careful with the results. Doing pap smear test at regular intervals as suggested by the doctor can help you with this. Once HPV is infected, it will stay for the rest of life, as no medical cure is available for complete removal of virus from body. However it is not seen to be transmitted to babies by birth. Hope my answer helps. Take care.