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STDs (Expert Forum)
Can antibiotics weaken your immune system and create Wart outbreaks?
Answered by
Edward W Hook, MD - HIV Prevention, stds
Welcome to the STD Forum, which is intended only for questions and support pertaining to sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV/AIDS, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus, genital warts, trichomonas, other vaginal infections, nongonoccal urethritis (NGU), cervicitis, molluscum contagiosum, chancroid, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). All questions will be answered by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D. or Edward W Hook, MD.
Can antibiotics weaken your immune system and create Wart outbreaks?
by DantesInferno, Oct 07, 2009 01:10AM
Okay, just to give you a bit of info beforehand, I was dating a girlfriend 1 year and 6 months ago, she told me she didn't have any STD. 4 Months later what do you know she admitted to having genital warts before me, and having them lasered off her vagina. So now I figured I had already acquired the disease and later on confirming my suspisions a wart popped up around the 4-5 month area of my dating her. After 6 months I left her. I haven't really had any outbreaks since, for around 6-7 months. --Then my doctor gives me Monodox an antibiotic for skin, because I have some rosacea, and I've had 3 outbreaks in 3 months. Monodox does wonders for my skin and has made it clear as can be but is this potentially the same thing that is weakening my immune system to be fighting the powerful HPV away from my skin creating warts? I hear statistics stating that around my stage, (almost 2 years of having it I believe) I should be WART free, and my body should have cleared it. Is it possible that Monodox could potentially weaken my "GOOD" bacteria that fight HPV? So basically after all the rambling, 1.) Can Monodox weaken the immune system's defense system and make people more suseptible to getting HPV symptoms, and 2.) I'm at 1 year and 6 months of having it give or take a month or two (I'm not sure when I actually acquired it from my previous girlfriend". Statistically when should I clear HPV symptoms? It's very rare that I would consistently have warts for years, right? Even after treating them? And 3.) Could it be my girlfriends vagina, having warts in it, ping ponging warts back to my penis? My current gf showed symptoms on her outer vagina and got them burned off and she hasn't had any since but how do I know her "inner" vagina doesn't have "warts"? ... Also what is the reality if I keep my Immune System in Very nice shape, that I can beat this and not have Genital Wart outbreaks? If I work out, drink antioxidants, get proper nutrients, etc. ?
Doctor's Answer
by Edward W Hook, MD, Oct 07, 2009 10:20AM
, Oct 07, 2009 10:20AM
Welcome back to the Forum. Much of what we said in our prior exchange is still relevant so I have pasted it into this message again as a reminder for you and to try to keep me from repeating myself in my answer to you. Here it is:
The topic of HPV and genital warts is a complex one. I will try to provide some facts. For addition information on this most common of STDs, I would suggest search for other HPV- and wart-related Q&A on this site, as well seeking addition information on sites such as the American Social health Association web-site (disclosure, Dr. Handsfield and I are both on the Board of ASHA)..
For better or worse, at present HPV is a "fact of life" and most people have it or will have it at some point in the future. HPV is the most commonly acquired STD. Over 85% of sexually active women will have HPV infection at some time in their lives. The figure for men is less well studied but similar. In some HPV will cause genital warts, in others it will not cause warts but may lead to changes in PAP smears. In nearly everyone who gets HPV, warts or otherwise, the infections will resolve by themselves without therapy in 8-24 months. In a very small minority of women, HPV infection can persist and lead to the pre-cancerous lesions that PAP smears detect and which can then be treated. For men there is far less risk of any sort. With this as background, let's address your questions.
Most studies of genital wart therapy demonstrate that while therapy does accelerate elimination of warts, there is a recurrence rate of 20-30% following therapy for warts in which they disappear completely. This recurrence rate is the case pretty much no matter how they are treated and is likely due to the fact that there are typically HPV infected cells present within normal appearing skin. The therapy of warts, as you well know, is to destroy the involved tissue. No one wants to destroy more tissue, whether by freezing or burning that is necessary. this no doubt contributes to the recurrence rate. If necessary because of scheduling issues, it should be fine for you to be treated first with one method, then the other.
Now, in answer to your current questions, let me first comment that if you have now been clear of warts for 6 months, there is little chance that you will transmit it to future sex partners. On the other hand, since virtually everyone has HPV and future partners may not have the same HPV type as you were infected with, you remain at risk for infection with a different type. Condoms reduce this risk about 60%. I say this not to frighten you but to be completely clear.
As for your specific questions:
1. the antibiotic you are taking is likely a type of tetracycline antibiotic. It will not have a negative impact on your immune system and should have no impact on your immune response to HPV infection.
2. See above. If you are wart free, you are clear and do not need to worry about infecting future sex partners.
3. Again, see above. HPV is so widespread there is no reason to suggest that "ping pong" infections are occurring
Hope this helps. EWH
The topic of HPV and genital warts is a complex one. I will try to provide some facts. For addition information on this most common of STDs, I would suggest search for other HPV- and wart-related Q&A on this site, as well seeking addition information on sites such as the American Social health Association web-site (disclosure, Dr. Handsfield and I are both on the Board of ASHA)..
For better or worse, at present HPV is a "fact of life" and most people have it or will have it at some point in the future. HPV is the most commonly acquired STD. Over 85% of sexually active women will have HPV infection at some time in their lives. The figure for men is less well studied but similar. In some HPV will cause genital warts, in others it will not cause warts but may lead to changes in PAP smears. In nearly everyone who gets HPV, warts or otherwise, the infections will resolve by themselves without therapy in 8-24 months. In a very small minority of women, HPV infection can persist and lead to the pre-cancerous lesions that PAP smears detect and which can then be treated. For men there is far less risk of any sort. With this as background, let's address your questions.
Most studies of genital wart therapy demonstrate that while therapy does accelerate elimination of warts, there is a recurrence rate of 20-30% following therapy for warts in which they disappear completely. This recurrence rate is the case pretty much no matter how they are treated and is likely due to the fact that there are typically HPV infected cells present within normal appearing skin. The therapy of warts, as you well know, is to destroy the involved tissue. No one wants to destroy more tissue, whether by freezing or burning that is necessary. this no doubt contributes to the recurrence rate. If necessary because of scheduling issues, it should be fine for you to be treated first with one method, then the other.
Now, in answer to your current questions, let me first comment that if you have now been clear of warts for 6 months, there is little chance that you will transmit it to future sex partners. On the other hand, since virtually everyone has HPV and future partners may not have the same HPV type as you were infected with, you remain at risk for infection with a different type. Condoms reduce this risk about 60%. I say this not to frighten you but to be completely clear.
As for your specific questions:
1. the antibiotic you are taking is likely a type of tetracycline antibiotic. It will not have a negative impact on your immune system and should have no impact on your immune response to HPV infection.
2. See above. If you are wart free, you are clear and do not need to worry about infecting future sex partners.
3. Again, see above. HPV is so widespread there is no reason to suggest that "ping pong" infections are occurring
Hope this helps. EWH
