Warts is a family of viruses called the Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV).
The viruses that cause regular warts belongs in this family of viruses, but is not the same as the ones that cause venereal warts (also called 'condylomas').
Warts are pretty easy to get, and it's estimated that at least one-fourth of the people in this country carry the virus but don't show symptoms (you can't tell they have it).
You can get warts by intimate skin contact through such acts as insertive or receptive oral, anal, and vaginal sex.
Also, intimate skin contact, and any genital-to-genital contact, even without penetration, can transmit the virus that causes warts.
Secondary contact can transmit the disease as well.
For example, fondling, foreplay, and petting will all transmit the virus pretty well.
It's best to ask your partners if they've ever had warts.
Even so, some people can have it and pass it on without knowing it (if the warts are too small to see).
Secondary contact is how some people autoinoculate themselves--that is, they spread it to other parts of their body just by touching a wart and touching some other part of their body.
Finally, women who have warts in the birthing canal can pass the disease on to their baby during birth.
Babies can be infected on their genitals, but this is rare.
Babies usually get warts in their throat from birth.
Venereal warts can grow in the mouth, the throat, the genitalia, the anus, and the perineum.
They look like cauliflowers: bumpy and fleshy.
They are painless but can grow so big that they block your urethra, vagina, anus, or throat.
But warts can also be so small that you can't see them.
Of course you can still spread them even if you can't see them.
Warts can be burned off with laser, or frozen, or treated with chemicals.
This gets rid of them for a while.
Often, they come back (they recur) for a long time--sometimes for life.
That's because they become latent and can hide in your skin.
They may disappear without treatment, but don't count on it.
Contact your doctor as soon as you think you may have gotten an STD the sooner you are treated, the better your chances of recovery, and it is less likely you will get complications.
Also, have your partners checked out, and stop having sex until you get better.
