Brief encounters
Genital warts affect quality of life
A national human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme will start in the UK in September 2008 and will commence with vaccination of 12–13 year old girls. Two HPV vaccines are potentially available. Both protect against HPV types 16 and 18 (which cause >70% of all cases of cervical carcinoma); additionally, one also protects against types 6 and 11 (which cause >95% of genital warts). Woodhall et al measured the impact of genital warts on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) to assess potential benefits of the quadrivalent vaccine. Patients attending a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic with current genital warts had lower HRQoL scores than controls, the differences being most marked in young women. The authors suggest that the potential added benefit of preventing most cases of genital warts by HPV vaccination should be considered when decisions are made about which HPV vaccine to use in the UK. See page 161
Primary care for STI
Neale et al carried …
