CONDYLOMAS or WARTS (HPV)
What are HPV condylomas or warts?
Condylomas, or venereal warts, are a common sexually transmitted disease (STD), caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) that affects the skin or mucous membranes. The virus can cause fleshy cauliflower-like bumps to appear in moist areas located in and around the sexual organs. In many cases, warts are detectable with the naked eye.
Who can get warts or condylomas?
Warts or condylomas can infect any sexually active person. In most cases, these warts affect young people (between 15 and 30 years of age) who have multiple sexual partners. People with a weak immune system are at a higher risk of being infected and having a more serious infection than other patients.
How are condylomas transmitted?
Condylomas are usually spread through direct skin-to-skin contact during a vaginal, anal, or oral sexual act with an infected person. HPV can also be passed from mother to child (usually appears in the throat or mouth in children) during labor.
What are the symptoms of condylomas?
Warts appear as fleshy, smooth lumps of different sizes that are usually painless and can be protruding, pointed, or flat. Warts can appear alone or in groups.
When do symptoms appear?
The average incubation period, which begins immediately after initial sexual contact with an infected person, is usually two to three months, but can range from one to twenty months. However, when HPV is passed from one person to another, the virus infects the upper layers of the skin and can remain dormant or dormant for months or possibly years before warts or other signs of HPV infection appear. In couples who have not had sexual partners for many years, the woman may have an abnormal pap smear due to previous contacts.
How long can a person spread condylomas?
The infected person is essentially contagious. About two-thirds of people who have sexual contact with a partner with venereal warts will develop the disease. HPV infection can also be transmitted by people with no visible lesions, although some researchers believe that this disease is less contagious than obvious genital warts.
Does a previous infection make the person immune to HPV?
No, a previous infection with codilomas or warts does not make the person immune to the disease.
What are the consequences of no receiving treatment?
If the person does not receive treatment, in some cases the warts or condylomas will continue to grow and spread. It can increase the risk of cancer of the cervix, vulva, penis, mouth, pharynx, or anus among those who are infected with a particular variety of HPV in these areas.
How can contagion be prevented?
There are several ways to avoid the spread of warts:
Limit the number of sexual partners;
Use a male or female condom **;
Wash your genitals thoroughly after intercourse;
If you think you may be infected, avoid sexual contact and go to your local STD clinic, hospital, or see your doctor;
Notify all your sexual contacts immediately so they can be examined and receive treatment.
What role does our immune system play in HPV condylomas or warts?
What role does our immune system play in HPV condylomas or warts?
The immune system must be recognized, controlled and removed by a large number of potentially harmful internal, external or both agents.
One of them is the human papilloma virus (HPV), which in most cases is eliminated thanks to the competition of innate immunity and adaptive immunity. In some not fully known conditions, HPV escapes from the immune system, causing persistent infections and the appearance of malignancies. Viral persistence is favored by conditions, such as infection of the stratified epithelium of the skin and mucosa, from which the cells of the immune system are limited in number and diversity compared to other anatomical areas and by the integration of the viral genome in the cell. of the host, which induces changes in biology and malignant transformation.
It is essential to strengthen the immune system, since in a large percentage of cases the individual's own immune system is capable of finishing or neutralizing the virus, so the stimulation and modulation of natural defenses can be a highly effective method in fights condylomas or warts of the human papilloma virus (HPV).
