Q: I am a 27-years-old female diagnosed with condyloma around one month back. The doctor gave me antibiotics for a week and manually applied medication on the warts twice during the month. On my last visit, she said there is considerable reduction in warts and just a small one remains. She didn't call me for subsequent visits. How do I get rid of these warts completely? What precautions should I take to avoid having them again in future? And most importantly how long should we wait before planning a child? Will it affect my chances of becoming pregnant?

A:You have not mentioned the site of the warts. I presume that they are on your private parts. It is now accepted that warts produce a lifelong infection. Even if you remove the clinical lesions, the virus remains in latent phase. It can get reactivated again; when and how many times, nobody can predict. Warts do not prevent pregnancy. However, method of delivery of the child has to be planned according to the size and location of the vaginal warts. If they are very big (usually not so), they may create obstruction to the passage of the baby. The main danger is that the child may swallow the infected vaginal secretions (during childbirth) and can then develop warts in the larynx. These can be prevented by a caesarean delivery.