Prevention

HPV can spread through skin-to-skin contact with any infected part of the body — but using a condom every time you have sex can significantly reduce your risk of contracting HPV.

If warts are visible on your genital area or your partner's, avoid sexual contact until the warts are treated. If you've developed genital warts for the first time, inform your sexual partner so that he or she can be screened for infection and, if necessary, receive treatment.

While it won't completely prevent genital warts or cervical cancer, a new vaccine known as Gardasil offers protection from the most dangerous types of HPV. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine in June 2006. The national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends routine vaccination for girls age 11 and 12, as well as girls and women ages 13 to 26 if they haven't received the vaccine already.

Because HPV is so common but usually invisible, the only sure ways to prevent it are not to have sex, or to have sex with only one uninfected person, who is only having sex with you. You can lower your risk by limiting your number of sex partners and choosing partners who have had few or no sex partners. Condoms may also lower your risk of HPV-associated conditions. Condoms may provide some but not complete protection against HPV, since HPV can infect skin that is not covered by a condom. Condoms have been shown to reduce the risk of genital warts and cervical cancer. Condoms can also reduce the risk of HIV and some other sexually transmitted infections, when used all the time and the right way.