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Genital Warts/HPV Diagnosis

Genital Warts/HPV: Diagnosis


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1. Direct visual examination

A direct visual examination involves direct physical testing on the affected portions of the patient’s body to locate the spots, signs, and symptoms of genital warts. The doctors conduct a thorough observation of the genital areas, pelvic regions, and the thighs of the patient’s body. They may also examine the patient’s mouth and tongue regions to locate the appearance of warts. Genital warts, when viewed without any external aids, look like flesh-colored horizontal or protruding lesions on the skin. The warts may be small or large and are usually found in clusters.

2. Acetic acid solution test

A visual examination might not be able to detect the presence of genital warts successfully every time. Thus, medical practitioners quite often use some chemical solutions to detect the presence of genital warts. White vinegar or a solution consisting of three to five percent acetic acid is usually applied on the genital areas and around the anus to locate the presence of undetected genital warts. The color of the warts changes into white as soon as they come in contact with the acetic acid solution. However, the presence of white spots on the patient’s outer skin does not always imply that the patient is suffering from genital warts. The test is also a positive indicator for other medical aberrations like psoriasis, yeast infections, and lichen planus.

3. Colposcopy test

Doctors also conduct another commonly used test known in medical circles as colposcopy. In this test, doctors use a unique illuminated magnifying device to get a better view of the patient’s private parts, including the cervix and vulva, to check for signs and symptoms of genital warts. In addition to that, some distinct cases also require a biopsy which involves extracting a small tissue sample from the cervix and examining it under a microscopic device.

4. Pap smear test

This test is specially conducted on women to detect the appearance of the warts virus on their body. In the course of a pap smear test, doctors grate some cells from the patient’s uterine cervix. These cells are then subjected to a thorough examination to detect the presence of abnormalities. When an abnormality is detected, the patient will be recommended to undergo further tests to determine the cause of such abnormality.

5. DNA HPV test

This test is another important follow up test that is done in addition to the pap smear test to reach a conclusive finding. If the DNA HPV test and pap smear yield negative results and the person doesn’t have a causal health condition, like HIV or immune-suppression, they may wait three years before undertaking another combination of the two tests. Patients who are found vulnerable to high-risk HPV or susceptible to underlying medical conditions have abnormal cell changes on their pap smear and must undergo frequent such tests to be determined jointly by the patient and doctor.

 

A positive DNA HPV test hints towards the possibility of dangerous type of HPV, but the test does not specify the exact type of the virus that is present like types 16, 18, 31, 33, etc., that have a high risk of causing cervical cancer. If the test yields negative results, chances of a high-risk HPV infection are low. If the pap smear test shows abnormal results and the HPV DNA test is found negative, follow up testing and additional monitoring is required. Similarly, if the pap smear yields normal results and the DNA test is positive, supplementary testing becomes necessary.

6. PCR (or cell culture) test

Cell culture or PCR test conducted on active sores helps determine the present status of the disease’s effect on the patient’s body. These tests may give a false negative result if the sores have started healing themselves whereas a positive result from one of these tests is very accurate in establishing whether a patient is actually suffering from the onslaught of the virus.

7. The oral risk saliva based HPV diagnostic test

Oral HPV is an appearance of the HPV virus in the patient’s mouth and is primarily found in the oropharyngeal complex. Different types of oral HPV are now supposed to be split up and are considered serious causal factors for developing oral cancers. Early discovery of the presence or absence of oral HPV is significant, as initial oral HPV infections do not typically have any bothering signs or symptoms. This non-invasive test enables the doctor to establish increased risk for oral cancers and determine appropriate referral and supervising conditions.

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