What Causes Warts
Warts are a hard, rough lump that commonly grow on the hands and feet, but can occur anywhere on the body. There are many different types of warts including; flat warts, plantar warts and genital warts. The common skin wart is the most frequently encountered wart and they are most commonly found on the hands, feet and elbows. Warts usually occur without any other symptoms and may simply disappear on their own after a few months. However, they have been known to reoccur or even last for many years. Warts are contagious and are commonly passed on via broken skin. Let’s take a look at what causes these strange little lumps.
What causes warts?
All of the different types of warts are caused by a viral infection. This virus is known as the human papilloma virus (HPV) and there are more than 130 different types of this virus. These different strains of the virus cause the different types of warts. For example, HPV type 2 and 4 are the most common cause of the common wart and HPV type 3, 10 and 28 cause flat warts.
What is the treatment for warts?
Some types of the HPV virus can be prevented with a vaccine. This vaccine is designed to prevent cervical cancer, which can also caused by the HPV virus, and the most common strains of genital warts.
Other types of warts are usually treated with over the counter topical treatments, such as salicylic acid. They can also be removed with surgical procedures such as freezing the wart with liquid nitrogen.
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