Genital Wart Virus Detected On Fingers

Posting Date: 11/05/1999

I told you of a recent study where the genital herpes virus could show up as oral herpes and vice versa, meaning the disease can be spread by oral sex.

Now, there?s an incredible finding that has been suspected in clinical research but that took DNA analysis to confirm. It?s that human papillomavirus (HPV) ? a common sexually transmitted disease ? has been detected on the fingers of men and women with genital warts.

Researchers in England say they identified viral DNA in genital samples of 13 of 14 men and all eight women in a study group and also detected HPV on the fingers of nine men and three women, according to a report in the publication, Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The kicker is that the genital and finger DNA samples were identical in five men and one woman, or 27 percent of the group.

Researchers aren?t positive what these results mean, but the implication is that patients with genital warts might transfer genital virus types to their sexual partners by finger-genital contact.

The fact that HPV might be spread by hand contact means we need to re-evaluate the way we look at the impact and prevalence of the disease. HPV has been associated with cervical and vulvar cancer, so the issue is serious.

Source: Sexually Transmitted Infections, October 1999

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