How to Prevent Genital Warts

The best way to prevent genital warts is to avoid sex or have sex with only one uninfected partner. Using condoms also may help to prevent infection. However, condoms can't always cover all affected skin. Factors that increase your risk of becoming infected include:

Having other STDs (because the risk factors are the same)
Multiple sex partners
Smoking
Certain vitamin
deficiencies
Medications or medical conditions that suppress the immune system, such as AIDS
If you have had genital warts, you should be tested for cervical cancer at least once every year. Cervical cancer can be prevented with regular screening (Pap smears), and can be cured in most cases when it is detected in early stages.
HPV vaccines can be helpful in preventing genital warts. There are currently two vaccines FDA approved and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These are Gardasil andCervarix. One of the vaccines, Gardasil, targets HPV types 6 and 11, the types of HPV that cause 90 percent of genital warts. Both Gardasil and Cervarix protect against the major cervical cancer-causing strains, 16 and 18. Cervarix and Gardasil are effective for girls 9 through 26 years old. Only Gardasil has been licensed for use in males.
Both vaccines are given as a set of three shots over six months. The vaccine will not cure existing infections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all 11- and 12-year-old American girls get the shots, although girls as young as 9 could receive it if they're sexually active. For "catch-up," the CDC also recommends that girls and women ages 13 to 26 be vaccinated against HPV, regardless of their Pap test results.

The vaccine works best before an individual has been exposed to HPV. Early vaccination provides the greatest chance of preventing cervical cancer and genital warts. Older girls and young women were included in the CDC recommendations because even if they've had some exposure to HPV, it may not be to the strains contained in the vaccine, so they'll they may get some protection.

Symptoms and Diagnosis of Genital warts

Genital warts are a sexually transmitted infection. Genital warts treatment can involve a range of methods. DrEd can provide a prescription for a topical cream, suitable for small warts.
Genital Warts are caused by a viral skin infection called the human papillomavirus (HPV). They are skin coloured bumps, fleshy growths or changes to the skin that appear on the genital area: on the penis, vagina or around the anus. They don’t normally hurt or cause any long term harm, but they can look unsightly and many people feel distressed by them. They are very common in England – they are the second most common sexually transmitted infection after Chlamydia.

Symptoms of Genital warts
Genital warts appear on moist surfaces, especially at the entrance of the vagina and rectum in women. In men and women, they can appear anywhere in the genital or anal area. They may be small, flat, flesh-colored bumps or tiny, cauliflower-like bumps. Individual warts usually measure 1 millimeter to 2 millimeters in diameter – much smaller than the diameter of a pencil eraser – but clusters can be quite large. In some cases, warts can be so small that you can't see them. Genital warts may not cause any symptoms, or they may cause itching, burning, tenderness or pain.
Diagnosing genital warts
Women - genital warts may exist on the vulva, cervix, upper thighs, inside the vagina, on the anus, and inside the anus. (vulva = lips around the opening of the vagina. Cervix = entrance to the uterus or womb)
Men - genital warts may exist on the penis, scrotum, urethra, upper thighs, on the anus, and inside the anus. (urethra = tube than urine passes through. scrotum = sac that holds the testicles)
Oral sex raises the risk of genital warts developing in the mouth or throat.
A patient needs to be examined by a health care professional - this could be a nurse - to confirm a diagnosis of genital warts. In the UK people can either go to their GP (general practitioner, primary care physician), a GUM (genitourinary medicine) clinic, or a sexual health clinic.
Even if a person's partner has no symptoms it is still possible to have genital warts. People should go for a checkup if:
The patient or partner has genital warts symptoms
The patient recently had unprotected sex with a new partner
The patient or partner have had unprotected sex with somebody else
The patient's partner tells him/her that he/she has an STD
The patient has an STD
The patient is pregnant
The patient is trying to get pregnant

A healthcare professional can usually diagnose genital warts if any are visible. The examination may involve looking inside the vagina or anus. On rare occasions a biopsy of the wart may be taken.