[A primary clinical trial of genital warts treated with domestic highly purified podophyllotoxin]

Abstract

Genital warts (condyloma accunimata) are a kind of sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). In this article, we report 75 cases of genital warts treated with highly purified podophyllotoxin. All volunteers were selected in our clinic and diagnosed according to typical skin lesions and positive 0.5% acetic acid test. Of the 74 cases 48 were male and 26 were female, with a mean age of 28.4 years (21-54). The average duration of disease was 4.4 months (2 weeks-3 years). All lesions were treated with 0.5% podophyllotoxin-ethanal solution topically 2 times per day for 3 successive days. The treatment was repeated if any warts persisted, but not more than 3 therapies in total were applied. The results showed that 41/48 (85.4%) of male and 23/26 (88.5%) of female patients were cured, the overall cure rate was 86.5% and the effectiveness rate (more than 50% lesions disappeared) was 96.15%. During another 3 months of follow-up, 9 male and 4 female patients (17.6% in total) experienced relapsed warts; these were cured with another treatment. Side effects including slight local irritation and erythema or superficial erosions were common, but 3 male and 2 female patients complained of sever pain and local swelling. All side effects were tolerable. It is concluded that our domestically produced highly purified podophyllotoxin is an effective, comparatively safe drug for the treatment of genital warts. It is also very simple to apply, and can be used for self-treatment.