Genital Warts (Condyloma Acuminatum): Definition, Epidemiology & Etiology

00:02 Continuing our discussion of sexually transmitted infections, we turn now to genital warts.

00:09 This is a predominantly sexually transmitted cutaneous infection of stratified squamous epithelium in the genital areas due to any of several strains of a virus called human papilloma virus.

00:25 This is a pretty severe problem, especially because we don’t have any real good therapy for it and it results in several million genital HPV infections a year.

00:41 The most common age group infected are those in the sexually active years between 15 and 44.

00:50 We’re talking about 20 million in the United States infected, and this is a very contagious type of viral infection.

00:59 The prevalence of anogenital warts is called condyloma acuminata, to be distinguished from condylomalata.

01:12 In the general population, it’s 0.2 to 5 percent.

01:16 Among males 18 to 59, about 4 percent.

01:22 In females, 7.2 percent.

01:25 And the disease is increasing in incidence.

01:29 Approximately 500,000 persons a year are infected by this problem.

01:34 The virus that causes human papilloma virus infection belongs to the Papillomaviridae family.

01:43 It is widely distributed in higher vertebrates, and it’s a non-envelope double-stranded DNA virus.

01:53 It’s got a pretty simple circular genome about 8 kB in length, 55 nanometers in diameter, and it’s dependent on the host cell for replication, transcription, and translation.

02:14 Now, you may have heard of the association of human papilloma virus and cervical carcinoma, and that is indeed a bad problem.

02:23 We’ve developed a vaccine for that problem.

02:26 But the types that cause these genital warts are the low-risk HPV types 6, 11, and 42 through 44.

02:38 These are the ones that cause the warts.

02:41 This virus has a tropism for squamous epithelium and it is the cause of warts and genital warts.