The Prevalence and Clinical Features of Genital Warts among a sample of Patients in Erbil Governorate

Background and objectives: External genital warts are currently the most common form of viral sexually transmitted disease found in the general population which occur as a direct result of infection with the human papilloma virus. Our aim was to study the clinical features of genital warts among populations of Erbil governorate. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 6 month’s period from (September 2017 to March 2018) on 150 patients at the Erbil Dermatology Teaching Center; Erbil governorate. Participants were interviewed and examined individually, and diagnosis of the genital warts confirmed clinically. Results: female to male ratio is 1: 2.9. Our data showed the highest prevalence (44.7% of our main sample size of external genital wart) was among age groups ranging from (28-37 years) of both genders. The second peak was noted at age groups (18-27years) which was about 26.7%. The range declines to less than 1.3% for the age group of 75 years and above. We found a slightly higher prevalence of external genital wart among males (54%) versus females (46 %). Higher prevalence of the disease was found among the married samples of both genders (74.7 %) versus singles (25.3%). No female patient; whether married or single, admitted having multiple partners while some male’s patients were having multiple partners. Conclusions: This study showed that genital warts are more common in male with multiple sex partner and who are married and it’s also more common in lower educational levels of population.