Genital warts can be a rather painful condition to live with. Besides the painful nature of the condition, though, a more distressing fact about it is that while there are various medications to mitigate its symptoms (and perhaps wipe out incidences and recurrences of the warts), there is no 'full cure' for the virus which causes it, making genital warts one of the conditions where the adage 'prevention is better than cure' more than real; because once you happen to have the condition, there is very little – if anything - you can do about eliminating it completely.



To understand how to prevent genital warts, it is important to first have a basic appreciation of what it is that causes the condition. As it turns out, genital warts are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). This virus is primarily spread through sexual contact with an infected person (though it is important to note that the exchange of body fluids is not absolutely necessary for the transmission of the virus, as simple contact between an infected and an uninfected person is often adequate to pass the virus along). The fact that simple contact between an infected and uninfected person can cause genital warts infection means that besides unprotected sex, the disease can also be spread by among other things sharing bathroom equipment and so on, as the virus that causes genital warts has been known to survive outside the human body for considerable periods of time.

Given that sexual contact with infected persons is still the leading mode of transmission for genital warts, it follows that having protected sex (through the use of condoms) is one of the best ways to keep oneself relatively safe from the condition. Of course, since the virus that causes genital warts does not depend on the exchange of bodily fluids to pass from one person to another – and the condition can be spread even by simple contact between an infected and an infected person – one should not be too surprised if they still get genital warts in spite of using condoms, because condoms are certainly not foolproof in its prevention.

If you are a woman, another major step you can take towards the prevention of genital warts is getting immunized against the condition, by taking the immunization for it called Gardasil, which also protects against cervical cancer. Unfortunately, as matters stand now, there is no such immunization against genital warts for men – which is not to say that this is a 'women's only' illness - as the chances of a man getting infected with it are almost the same as the chances of a woman getting afflicted with the same condition.

Another step you can take towards keeping yourself free from genital warts is to prime your immune system, as it is compromised immunity that is responsible for making one exposed to genital warts virus (HPV) infections, while also making the recurrences of the disease's symptoms more and more severe – and frequent - once the virus is in the body. Of course, while protecting yourself from genital warts infections, giving your immune system a boost will also keep you safe from a whole host of other distressing afflictions that a compromised immunity system exposes you to.