FAQ: How Can I Prevent Getting Infected With Genital Warts?
June 28, 2010 by Staff
Filed under FAQ Videos
Your best bet at preventing infection is to abstain from sex or limit sexual contact to one uninfected person. If that is not an option, condoms may provide some protection, but condoms are not 100% effective since they do not cover the entire penis or surrounding areas.
The first vaccine against HPV, Gardasil, won FDA approval June 8, 2006. The vaccine protects against infection from four strains of the virus. Two of these strains, HPV-16 and HPV-18, account for about 70% of cervical cancers. The other two strains covered by the vaccine, HPV- 6 and HPV-11, account for about 90% of genital warts. The vaccine is approved for 9- to 26-year-old females. Other vaccines against HPV are currently being studied and are showing great promise in reducing infections.
More Frequently Asked Questions
- FAQ: What do genital warts look like?
- FAQ: What is genital HPV infection?
- FAQ: How do people get HPV?
- FAQ: How Do I Know If I Have Genital Warts?
- FAQ: What Happens If I Don't Get Genital Warts Treated?
