Genital warts are the raised, flesh-colored lesions found on the infected person's genital area and its surrounding skin. Also known as venereal warts or condylomata acuminata, genital warts are caused by a Human Papilloma Virus or HPV, a double-stranded DNA virus that is mainly transmitted through sexual intimate activities, such as vaginal intercourse, anal sex and oral sex.

HPVs are transmitted when the virus is able to penetrate the body's first line of defenses -- the skin and the mucus membranes. Once a skin break occurs, no matter how small it is, HPV gains access to the host cell by attaching and penetrating the outermost layer of the skin. Subsequently, it begins its replication by taking over the cell's metabolism. These viruses insert their genetic materials into the cell's DNA.

According to the latest survey, it is estimated that around one million new cases of genital warts are clinically diagnosed each year, making it the most common sexually transmitted disease or STD in the United states, and probably, worldwide. Because there are times that the HPV infections of the skin and mucus membranes are not visibly seen, it is believed that the actual occurrence of genital warts is significantly higher than the given figures. Both sexes are equally susceptible to acquire the infection but from the report of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is revealed that women are more likely to exhibit the genital warts.