Do Anogenital Warts Cause Cancer?

The Human Papilloma virus causes Anogenital warts and this virus has also been linked to cancer. However, anogenital warts will not cause cancer. This is because there are many different strains of the virus and the two main types that cause anogenital warts are not cancerous.

There are over 100 strains of the Human Papilloma virus and 40 of these are linked to anogenital warts. However, the most common of these are HPV6 and HPV11. As there are so many virus strains and there are links to cancer, the HPV strains have been categorised into different subtypes. Both HPV6 and HPV11 have been categorised as low risk because they do not cause cancer. This is reinforced by the evidence that women who have genital warts do not have an increased risk for cervical cancer.

The warts are considered benign, as they are non-cancerous growths that will not turn into cancerous cells at all. There are a number of other HPV viruses that are linked to cancers such as cancers of the cervix and these are HPV16, HPV18, HPV31, HPV33 and HPV35. Two vaccinations have been made to try and protect against the two most dangerous strains that increase the risk of cervical cancer, HPV16 and HPV18. These vaccinations are been given to girls aged 12 and over in the UK.

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