Genital Warts And Pregnancy: The Risks Explained

The prevalence of genital warts and pregnancy puts the unborn child at risk of contracting the infection. Instances of neonatal infection have been seen due to the infection passing on to the child through an infected birth canal.

The human papilloma virus (HPV), the virus that causes genital warts, does not choose whom it affects, so even pregnant women can get the virus. However, unlike other people with genital warts, the complications of this condition when pregnant are much worse because it could also affect the growing fetus inside the infected mother. Fortunately, treatments for warts are available widely, but it is important to consult a doctor because some medications cannot be used while pregnant.

Many pregnant women who discover they have genital warts often find the disease uncomfortable because the warts grow much bigger, making it difficult for them to urinate. However, once diagnosed and removed, the genital warts would not cause much discomfort. When the genital warts affect the vagina, these warts could make the vagina tissues less elastic, causing a more difficult labor for the mother. Some women even experience an obstruction during delivery due to the genital warts, which often result in an unscheduled c-section delivery.

For the reasons outlined above you really need to consider ways of treating the condition before it impacts significantly on your health or the health of your unborn child. If you are looking at prevention to make sure that it isn’t an issue for you in the first place, then a good starting point is to make sure that you are not having sex with someone that has HPV. Abstinence is great, but not always realistic, so if you find this difficult in your particular circumstances at least try to be careful with any potential partner. You really need to reduce the potential of getting the disease so consider using condoms as they will provide some protection from potentially getting the infection.

Genital warts are clearly an unpleasant problem to deal with and this applies whether you are pregnant or not. If you are pregnant though, there are even more reasons to take precautions to ensure that you don’t contract the infection in the first place or to make sure that you get proper medical treatment if you do.

Learn more about how to get help with Curing HPV Genital Warts.