close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffHPV infections are common. Risk factors for HPV infection include:
- Number of sexual partners. The greater your number of sexual partners, the more likely you are to contract a genital HPV infection. Having sex with a partner who has had multiple sex partners also increases your risk.
- Age. Common warts occur most often in children and adolescents. While plantar warts may occur in adults, they're more likely to initially surface in childhood. Genital warts occur most often in adolescents and young adults.
- Weakened immune systems. People who have weakened immune systems are at greater risk of HPV infections. Immune systems can be weakened by HIV/AIDS or by immune system-suppressing drugs used after organ transplants.
- Damaged skin. Areas of skin that have been punctured or opened are more prone to develop common warts. For example, people who bite their fingernails are more likely to develop warts around their fingernails.
References
- Douglas JM. Papillomavirus. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50401-8&isbn=978-1-4160-2805-5&sid=1100799163&type=bookPage§ionEid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50401-8--cesec10&uniqId=230895620-4#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50401-8--cesec10. Accessed Jan. 3, 2011.
- Habif TP. Warts. In: Habif TP. Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. 5th ed. Edinburgh, U.K.; New York, N.Y.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00021-3&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9&sid=1100799163&type=bookPage§ionEid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00021-3--s0015&uniqId=230895620-4#4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00021-3--s0015. Accessed Jan. 3, 2011.
- Reichman R. Clinical presentation and diagnosis of human papillomavirus infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 3, 2011.
- Genital HPV infection: Fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm. Accessed Jan. 3, 2011.
- Molpus KL, et al. Gynecologic cancers. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50214-7--cesec29&isbn=978-1-4160-2805-5&sid=1101118090&type=bookPage§ionEid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50214-7--cesec40&uniqId=230973572-4#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50214-7--cesec40. Accessed Jan. 4, 2011.
- Goldstein BG, et al. Cutaneous warts. http://uptodate.com.home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 4, 2011.
- Warts. American Academy of Dermatology. http://aad.org/publications/pamphlets/common_warts.html. Accessed Jan. 4, 2011.
- Breen E, et al. Condylomata acuminata (anogenital warts). http://uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 4, 2011.
- Human papillomaviruses and cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV. Accessed Jan. 4, 2011.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al. Recommendations on the use of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine in males — Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2011:60;1705.
Find Mayo Clinic on