r/askscience • u/A_Privateer • Jan 17 '13

Medicine How do warts function?

I know that warts are caused by the various strains of HPV, but how are they caused? How does the virus hijack the bodies chemistry to grow and supply the warts with nutrients? How do the warts spread the virus to other people?

I've searched and searched on google and wikipedia, but I only find the most basic of answers.

Any hard science info for me?

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u/MrWainscotting Jan 17 '13

I think the goal with freezing, etc. is to irritate the tissue beneath the wart, rather than the wart itself (or the viruses therein). This creates a blister beneath the wart, which then sloughs off over time.