Warts are skin lesions, caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), that are harmless in most cases. They grow in areas of your body without any warning. Almost always, they occur on the skin’s top layer.
Most people in the world get in contact, either directly or indirectly, with the virus at some point in our lives. The most common ways of being infected with the virus are through direct skin contact. An example of this is when your arms brush with an infected person’s arms or when shaking hands with an infected person.
There are over a hundred strains of HPV that have already been discovered and most of these strains cause warts. Warts are either genital or non-genital. Non-genital warts are completely harmless and genital warts can be a bit risky as it can lead to cancer. There are HPV strains that cause non-genital warts only. Some strains can cause either genital or non-genital warts.
How Are Warts Acquired?
According to https://warts.org/types/common-wart, When you grow warts, you definitely have made contact with the virus, either through direct skin contact with an infected person or through the surroundings, within the past few weeks or the past few months.
Some people say that warts are acquired from frogs, which is not really true at all. It is a common misconception of how warts are acquired. The most frequent way of acquiring warts is through direct contact with a person who is infected. You can also acquire in indirectly which is by using an item that has been used by a person with warts. For example, if an infected person wiped a towel over his/her warts and was also used by a healthy person, then the person is now infected with HPV and would potentially have warts sometime soon.
It’s even easier to acquire the infection and grow warts when a little cut or skin opening is in contact with the virus. Very tiny cuts from shaving can lead to acquiring warts which are the reason why some men have warts growing on their beard. Some women would have warts on their legs because of shaving.
Not Everyone Grows Warts
If you made direct contact with an infected person and have never shown any lesions or growths on your skin for years, then you are one lucky person. There are people who never have warts and some easily grow warts when infected. This could possibly be based on the strength of a person’s immune system.
If you noticed, there are more children and teenagers that have warts compared to adults. This could be because the immune system of adults can easily fight off the virus and prevent it from growing warts.
If you had warts when you were young, you could potentially be growing warts soon when you get in contact with an infected person. Warts are also commonly found among children with siblings.
Can We Prevent Warts?
Yes! It can definitely be prevented, and it is the best way to decrease the chances of acquiring warts. There are a lot of methods that you can perform to avoid having warts. However, the most important thing you have to do is to not get in contact with the HPV.
Make sure that hands are always and properly washed with water and soap. When using gym equipment during a workout, make sure that you clean it yourself before using it because you wouldn’t know if the last person who used it is infected with the virus.
When walking around public shower rooms, poolside, and any other place that are warm and moist, make sure that you are always wearing footwear because the virus thrives in such areas and can easily enter the pores on your feet or through small cuts. Also, try to avoid biting and pulling fingernails.