Women's Health Program Manager Jan Sundnas said reports of cases of genital warts on campus have been exaggerated by students.
According to a pamphlet published by the American College Health Association, genital warts are a kind of lesion caused by human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Genital warts can be found on the shaft or head of a man's penis or on a woman's vagina, vulva or cervix, the pamphlet stated. They also can be found around the anus and urethra in both men and women, it stated.
Sometimes, the warts are not visible to the naked eye, other times they may look like small hard spots, the pamphlet said.
A freshman woman recently sent a widely-circulated electronic-mail message that said "Health Services is seeing about one new case [of genital warts] a day." Sundnas said that figure is inaccurate.
"It was taken out of context," Sundnas said.
Sundnas said the disease is less prevalent at Dartmouth than in the general population.
Sundnas said about 10 percent of the Dartmouth campus may have HPV, which does not necessarily mean they will develop genital warts. About one-third of the HPV viruses cause genital problems for both males and females, the pamphlet said.
Quoting statistics from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Sundnas said HPV may affect up to 40 percent of the general population.
"People don't need to be in a panic mode," she said.
But she said the electronic-mail message was correct in stating that condoms are not very effective in preventing HPV from spreading.
Sundnas said students should use condoms and spermicidal lubricates, which may provide more protection against the virus.
Sundnas said she is working on getting a major HPV researcher on campus to discuss the issue this spring.
