Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences injected warts with substances similar to those that test for allergies and found they not only wiped out the wart, but in many cases all the person's other warts as well.
The scientists injected antigens for the mumps, candida and trichophyton, the fungus that causes athlete's foot, into one wart per test subject.
Sixty per cent of those who got the injection in each individual wart lost the treated warts. But about half of those with multiple warts ended up entirely wart-free.
The new wart treatment is effective, safe and relatively painless. (CP photo)
The injection stimulates the immune system into mounting a defence while stirring up white blood cells to attack the agent that causes warts, said Dr. Thomas Horn, head of dermatology at the university in Little Rock.
"This should become a standard treatment for warts ... It is effective, safe and relatively painless," Horn said.
The study, published this week in Archives of Dermatology, demonstrated success on all kinds of warts, including plantar and genital warts.
Of the 201 patients treated, about half received antigens while the rest were injected with saline or interferon, a protein that helps regulate the body's immune system. The immune system's response was significantly greater in the antigen group.
"One of the joys of this is that patients with a large wart or patients with multiple warts, we only need to treat one of several to get many to go away, and in some cases hundreds," Horn said.
Current wart removal techniques include laser burning and liquid nitrogen freezing, which can be painful in some areas such as the sole of the foot where plantar warts strike.
However, a Toronto doctor recommended covering a wart for six days with duct tape, then scraping off the dead skin with pumice.
"It's easy, it works and you can do it at home," said Dr. Neil Shear, head of dermatology at Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre.
Still, he called the opportunity of eliminating many warts at once "exciting."
