Human papillomavirus is a family of viruses, and the ones that matter do different things.
- Low-risk types — mainly 6 and 11 — cause genital warts. Unpleasant and unwanted, but not cancer-causing.
- High-risk types — mainly 16 and 18, plus others — cause cervical cancer and are implicated in anal, penile, vaginal, vulval and some head and neck cancers.
Conflating the two causes a lot of unnecessary alarm. Warts are not a cancer risk in themselves.
Vaccination Has Changed Things
The UK HPV vaccination programme covers both girls and boys in school, and the vaccine used protects against the high-risk types and the two types that cause most genital warts.
The effect has been substantial — genital warts diagnoses have fallen markedly in vaccinated cohorts, and cervical cancer rates in vaccinated groups have dropped dramatically. It is one of the clearest public health successes in this area.
If you missed the school programme, catch-up vaccination is available up to a certain age through the NHS, and vaccination is offered to some higher-risk groups. It is worth asking about rather than assuming you are too late.
What Is Actually Tested For
This is where expectations and reality diverge.
- Cervical screening in the UK now tests for high-risk HPV first, and examines cells only if HPV is found. That is the main HPV testing programme, and it is aimed at preventing cervical cancer.
- Standard STI screens do not test for HPV. There is no routine HPV test for men, and no general "do I have HPV" test offered as part of sexual health screening.
- Genital warts are diagnosed by examination, not by a test.
So a "full STI screen" coming back clear says nothing about HPV. That is not a gap in the kit you bought; it is how the testing landscape works.
Treating Genital Warts
Options, usually through a sexual health clinic:
- Topical treatments applied at home over weeks — podophyllotoxin or imiquimod
- Cryotherapy — freezing, done in clinic, often over several sessions
- Other clinic-based approaches including excision or electrosurgery for resistant cases
Treatment removes visible warts. It does not necessarily clear the virus, so recurrence is possible. Many people clear HPV naturally over time as the immune system deals with it.
Do not use over-the-counter wart treatments intended for hands and feet on genital skin. They are too harsh and can cause serious damage.
Cervical Screening Still Matters
Vaccination reduces risk substantially but does not cover every high-risk type, so screening invitations should still be taken up. Vaccinated women are still invited, and attending remains worthwhile.
What to Do If You Find Something
Get it looked at by a sexual health clinic rather than self-diagnosing from images online. Several harmless anatomical variants are routinely mistaken for warts, and a clinician can distinguish them in seconds — which saves both unnecessary treatment and unnecessary worry.