Make love, not warts

There Stephanie is, being quizzed by health writers via Skype at a press conference with this mind-boggling title: Wart’s going on? Who, warts, where? — these questions are candidly answered as we sit and listen to Stephanie, a 26-year-old assistant in a private company, gingerly and very painfully share her story. Stephanie is single, so driven and so full of dreams. She met a guy at work and he became her first boyfriend despite her strict parents’ no-boyfriend policy. He’s 29, single, and Stephanie is his sixth girlfriend. One day, Stephanie went to an obstetrician-gynecologist because she thought she was pregnant. No, she was not going to have a baby; what she had was warts. She was angry, really sad, and scared. “I ran to the church,” she confesses. “I didn’t know what to do, who to turn to because it was not something you talked to other people about.”

While the rest of the country could be passionately talking about the Reproductive Health Bill, what we’re talking about here may not be far-fetched.

From where we’re sitting, we can feel the angst and anger in Stephanie’s voice. “I think about it every day — everytime I go to the bathroom, see a pregnant woman or any woman, I’m reminded of my warts,” laments Stephanie. “How come I had warts when I’ve only had one man in my life? It’s so unfair!”

Today, Stephanie and her boyfriend are saving up for their treatment that would cost each of them a staggering P30,000 for the cauterization and vaccine.

Wart’s really going on? There may be many more Stephanies out there — or many more who may end up like her because they don’t know any better.

A fact sheet handed to us gives a low-down on genital HPV (human papillomavirus) infection. Read this: The most common sexually transmitted infection, there are 40 HPV types that can affect the genital areas of males and females. Most people who become infected with HPV do not even know they have it. Sometimes, certain types of HPV can cause genital warts in males and females. Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or groups of bumps in the genital area. Warts can appear within weeks or months after sexual contact with an infected partner — even if the infected partner has no signs of genital warts. If left untreated, genital warts might go away, remain unchanged, or increase in size or number. They will not turn into cancer.

Dr. Analyn Fuentes-Fallarme of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UP-PGH tells us of the first local study to document HPV in Filipino women. The youngest in the study was 18 years old while the oldest was 61 years old. Forty-six percent of the women were married while the rest were single, lived with partners, or were separated. Take note that majority of the women were housewives, not commercial sex workers. Even the low-risk Filipino women get the infection so they, too, should get protection (but more on this later).

In an outpatient study done at UP-PGH, 60 percent only had one sex partner and 34 percent only two in their lifetime. Ninety-two percent of

Wart’s going on?: PGH’s Dr. Butch Manalastas explains the different types of diseases caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), including genital warts, which affects 32 million people worldwide each year.

the subjects across all age ranges were anxious as to who infected them and when it took place. They were wary and worried that they might infect other people, that the infection will never disappear and may even get worse. About 67 percent of the subjects admit that their personal relationships have been affected because of their condition. Interestingly, only 67 percent worry about other people finding out about their disease. 

More than the bleak statistics, Dr. Mary Judith Clemente of PGH talks about the feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and fear caused by the HPV stigma. There’s the low self-esteem and decrease in the quality of life. “There’s a decrease in the quality and frequency of intercourse, the quality of love life, directly attributable to warts,” says the young Dr. Clemente.

The psycho-socio-eco effects of the disease are often overlooked by clinicians. “Patients should be treated holistically,” Dr. Clemente points out.

Which brings us to prevention. Males and females can lower their risk of getting HPV through vaccination that can protect against the most common types of HPV. Two vaccines (Cervarix and Gardasil by MSD) are available to protect females against the types of HPV that cause most cervical cancers. Gardasil also protects against most genital warts. Both vaccines are recommended for 11 and 12-year-old girls and for females aged 13 up to 26 years old who did not get any or all of the shots when they were younger. To get the best protection, one must get all three doses of the same brand. These vaccines can also be given to girls as young as nine years old.

And now, there’s Gardasil to protect males against most genital warts This vaccine is available for boys and men, nine through 26 years old.

For the sexually active, condoms may lower the risk of HPV; they may lower the risk of developing HPV-related diseases, such as genital warts and cervical cancer.

Males and females can also lower their chances of getting HPV by being faithful to one partner, limiting their number of sex partners, or choosing a partner who has had no or few prior sex partners. Of course, the only surefire way to prevent HPV is to avoid all sexual activity.

But that’s another story.

* * *

We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.