“Genital warts?”

Understand that immunizations help you to build a targeted immune response to that you are immunized against; in this case the HPV type 16 and 18 virus or the original HPV vaccine which is against the HPV types 4, 11, 16 and 18. There are literally over 100 HPV subtypes with another 13-15 subtypes that are also considered high risk but not as high risk as 16 and 18. So you are not even fully protected against all HPV even after receiving the HPV vaccine; so by this explanation, it is no guarantee at all that you can utilize the vaccine to protect against HPV infections. Topical HPV warts are usually types 4 and 11 but there are other subtypes that are responsible for the external warts as well. And you would have to be certain that your vaccine covered ALL of the external wart subtypes so again, there is no guarantee that the vaccine will protect you against these warts.

The vaccine will not heal warts, if you have warts you already have been exposed to HPV. The vaccine can help prevent some patients from having warts, and it may help protect you against warts caused by other strains of HPV. Plus, the vaccine will help prevent cervical cancer, even if you already have genital warts.

May not totally eradicate the virus in your system, but may help prevent recurrence.

Sincerely,

Dr. Janice Alexander, RN, MD