Cervical warts are divided into several types of viral infection

HPV is the abbreviation of human papillomavirus, which is the infectious virus of cervical warts. HPV virus can be detected in the body of patients with cervical warts. HPV infection of cervical warts is divided into three types: latent infection, subclinical infection and clinical infection, also known as latent period, subclinical period and clinical period.

1. Incubation period:

It refers to the period from when the patient has unclean sexual intercourse or comes into contact with items containing HPV to the appearance of subclinical skin damage. A university in California, USA, conducted a health check on 467 female college students and found that the HPV positive rate of cervical and vulva examinations reached 46%. This shows that the latent infection rate of HPV in the population is not low. Patients in the latent period are only HPV carriers. Not only can warts not be seen with the naked eye, but no manifestations of genital warts are found in histopathology, and the acetic acid white test is also negative. Only highly sensitive methods such as PCR and in situ hybridization can detect HPV, but patients in this period are one of the important sources of infection.

2. Subclinical stage:

It has attracted the attention of many clinicians, and there are many reports on this issue at home and abroad. The clinical manifestations of subclinical condyloma acuminatum are not obvious, and are usually confirmed by the acetic acid white test: after smearing and soaking in 5% acetic acid solution, shiny, uniform, clear-edged or scattered, needle-cap-sized whitening areas appear. This rash, which is not easy to find clinically, can exist alone or coexist with typical skin lesions. The manifestations of subclinical skin lesions mainly have the following three forms:

① Tiny sessile warts, 1 to 3 mm in diameter, single or multiple, mainly seen on dry areas, especially the penis. If the lesions are too small, they are easily overlooked.

② Tiny nipple-like protrusions, which are villous, and sometimes many small protrusions merge to form a granular appearance, which are multiple. This kind of skin lesion often occurs in the vaginal vestibule, vaginal opening, labia minora, posterior frenulum of labia and vagina, and may be accompanied by itching and burning sensation.

③ Normal-looking macules, mainly seen on the penis, female vulva, cervix and vagina, are often multifocal. Such lesions can only be identified after they turn white with acetic acid whitening test.

3. Clinical stage:

It develops from the latent period or subclinical period, and often has typical clinical manifestations. The skin lesions are initially single, scattered or clustered light red papules, the size of a needle head, cylindrical, and with clear boundaries. Later, the papules gradually increase in size and number, with a moist and uneven surface, and finally merge into a papillary, cauliflower or cockscomb shape, with a pedicle at the root, and a grayish white, dirty gray or red surface. There may be exudate between the papillae of the warts, and in severe cases there may be erosion and bleeding, which are very likely to be complicated by bacterial infection, so there is often accumulation of purulent secretions with a foul odor. There may be a sense of oppression and itching locally. In a very small number of patients, the skin lesions may invade deep tissues and grow rapidly to form a huge wart, called giant condyloma acuminatum, which is difficult to distinguish clinically from squamous cell carcinoma. For example, giant condyloma acuminatum can be cancerous in a few cases. Genital warts in the rectum may cause pain, and larger lesions may cause a feeling of tenesmus.

In the clinical treatment of cervical warts, appropriate treatment measures should be taken for symptomatic treatment based on the type of viral infection, the patient's condition, and physical constitution. Therefore, patients should go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time after discovering the disease and follow the doctor's orders for symptomatic treatment, which will help the patient recover as soon as possible.