Let's Talk Warts!

You're probably wondering how warts are remotely tied into cleaning! I had no idea until meeting our family podiatrist, Dr. Liliya Kalyan. At first, it was just my daughter (see picture above). These warts started showing up on the boys causing my wife to make weekly appointments for all 4! A few weeks ago, I took my daughter and was able to ask some questions as I was very curious. ​

I wanted to know what caused warts and how they spread. Why wasn't my wife or I getting them? Dr. Kalyan was awesome! She answered my questions while she scraped away skin from my daughter's foot.

"Dr. Kalyan, what type of bacteria causes warts?"

"It's not bacteria. It's a virus."

I was surprised to hear that. I asked which virus.

"They are called Plantar Warts and they are caused by the HPV."

"Doctor, how is this virus spread and why didn't I get it?"

"Kids are most susceptible and many times, adults don't get it. The virus transmits most commonly through locker rooms of swimming teams or clubs. In your family, it's probably spreading by the kids walking barefoot in the house or more likely, in the shower."

This was a slap in the face! I'm the cleaning guy and local expert in disinfection. We have delegated our house cleaning to our kids and I didn't push a strong enough disinfection protocol!

I thanked Dr. Kalyan and asked if I could share this with our community to help fight the spread of Plantar Warts. She agreed. It was a joy meeting our family podiatrist. We are so pleased with their work and thankful to have a quality doctor we can trust with our children's health! If you're local to the Indian Valley, I highly recommend Indian Valley Podiatry!

Ken's Recommendation to Kill HPV

1. Prepare a spray bottle of diluted bleach to the correct level. The dilution is on the label for "disinfecting" I like the Clorox Germicidal personally, which recommends a 32:1 dilution or 1/2 cup bleach to 1 gallon water. This spray bottle is ONLY effective for 24 hours.
2. After you clean your shower floors, fully wet the shower floor with the bleach for 5 minutes and rinse.
3. If you have a Plantar Wart issue, I recommend cleaning and mopping your commonly used floors with bleach. Do this especially in the bathroom as the virus spreads more in warm, moist environments.
4. Wear socks!  

Ken's Research to Back it Up

Here's a great article by the Mayo Clinic on Plantar Warts. The Mayo Clinic confirms Dr. Kalyan's answers.

"Plantar warts are caused by an infection with HPV in the outer layer of skin on the soles of your feet. They develop when the virus enters your body through tiny cuts, breaks or other weak spots on the bottoms of your feet."

"The HPV strains that cause plantar warts aren't highly contagious. So the virus isn't easily transmitted by direct contact from one person to another. But it thrives in warm, moist environments. Consequently, you may contract the virus by walking barefoot around swimming pools or locker rooms. If the virus spreads from the first site of infection, more warts may appear."

"Anyone can develop plantar warts, but this type of wart is more likely to affect: Children and teenagers, people with weakened immune systems, people who have had plantar warts before, and people who walk barefoot where exposure to a wart-causing virus is common, such as locker rooms."

HPV is a non-enveloped virus. These pathogens have a highly resistant protein layer and are thus hard to kill! Some other examples of non-enveloped viruses include Rhinovirus (the common cold), Rotavirus (stomach flu or bug), Norovirus, and Poliovirus. HPV is in the same family of pathogens. 

It is commonly believed that the following disinfectants kill HPV:

• 90% ethanol for at least 1 minute
• 2% glutaraldehyde
• 1% sodium hypochlorite (bleach)

However, I found an interesting article through Pennsylvania State University, entitled "Popular disinfectants do not kill HPV". Penn State researchers tested the common kill claims and found the following:

• "While HPV is susceptible to certain disinfectants, including hypochlorite and peracetic acid, it is resistant to alcohol-based disinfectants."
• "They also tested other common disinfectants, including glutaraldehyde, which is used for sterilization in medical and dental facilities. Results show that glutaraldehyde is not effective at inactivating the HPV virus."

As a side note, the CDC also states the following: "No data are available regarding inactivation of human papillomavirus (HPV) by alcohol or other disinfectants because in vitro replication of complete virions has not been achieved."

The conclusion of this research identifies sodium hypochrolite as the best disinfectant to kill HPV. This is good news. Bleach works. However, I have written extensively on the "9 Mistakes in Disinfecting" and Mistake #5 states that bleach breaks down rapidly and dilutions MUST be remade every day to remain effective.

Did you make it through this article? That was intense! My takeaway is simple!

I'm wearing socks!