Hospital admission for treatment of genital warts has more than halved in young people since the rollout of the national HPV vaccination program, new data show.

Analysis of more than 40,000 cases of genital warts suggests that, along with reduced high-grade cervical abnormalities, vaccination is also reducing the burden of warts, say researchers at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) in Sydney.

The steepest decline in hospitalisation for warts “at the more severe end of the disease spectrum” was among women, falling 80% after the vaccine was introduced among those aged 10-19.

NCIRS senior research officer Dr Harunor Rashid, who presented the findings to the Public Health Association of Australia’s virtual 17th National Immunisation Conference last week, said young men had also benefited.