The HPV vaccine (Gardasil) protects against the main types of HPV that cause cervical cancer. The vaccine isn't a treatment for existing HPV infection or genital warts. However, the vaccine may benefit women already infected with one or more types of HPV by protecting them against the HPV types they don't have.

Please see the web pages for more details on Genital warts. HPV can take YEARS to show up....I run a support group and some girls and guys have e-mailed me saying that they haven't been sexually active in 10+ years (they are in their 60's) and they all of a sudden have had an outbreak.....check out my friend's site about hpv...it has a lot of info that your friend might find helpful...it also has a link to join our support group

http://www.healthandhpv.com Human papillomavirus is responsible for warts in both men and women, including genital warts, called condyloma acuminata. These are generally benign, or noncancerous. Although there are over a hundred types of HPV, only a few can be carcinogenic, that is, cancerous. It is only the persistent infection with certain types of HPV that causes cervical cancer. On the other hand, most HPV infections disappear spontaneously, being overcome by the body鈥檚 immune system. Worldwide there are some 236 million people infected with trichomoniasis and about 162 million people with chlamydial infections. Each year there are approximately 32 million new cases of genital warts, 78 million of gonorrhea, 21 million of genital herpes, 19 million of syphilis, and 9 million of chancroid.