Treatment of common and plane warts in children with topical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Vaccine

Human papillomaviruses are small, non enveloped double stranded DNA viruses which infect mucosal or squamous epithelia.The host immune responses are thought to play a major controlling role for the outcome of HPV infections. The transient nature of most HPV infections is indicatives of successful host defence. Immune defence is a combination of the relatively non specific innate immunity at the epidermal or mucosal surfaces and the antigen-specific adaptive immunity mediated by the conventional T and B cells which recognize and eliminate foreign material.Treating warts is a therapeutic challenge for family physicians. No single therapy has been proven effective at achieving complete remission in every patient. Topical BCG vaccine is a promising treatment modality for common and plane warts. It seems to be inexpensive, effective and safe option that has the potential advantages of widespread and sustained effects against HPV.