Genital warts—further lessons from Australia

There is more reassuring evidence from Australia in this month's clinical round-up, with a recent study of genital warts in the general population since the introduction of the quadrivalent vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV). Smith et al1 looked at HPV-related diagnoses in hospital episodes of care from a national system (rather than from sexual health clinics) from 1999–2011 and compared age-specific rates of genital warts before and after the implementation of the vaccination programme. HPV vaccination was initiated in Australia in 2007 for girls aged 12–13 years, with a catch-up programme until 2009 for girls and young women aged 13–26 years. This study shows a reduction in age-specific rates of genital warts in both non-indigenous and indigenous populations (the latter are known to have a higher cervical cancer rate and lower vaccine uptake), and in both men and women. Comparing rates between the years 2006–2007 and 2010–2011, Smith et al identified an overall reduction in genital wart diagnoses of nearly 90% for girls aged …