Nonavalent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine as a Treatment for Recalcitrant Warts in an Adult with HIV

Abstract

To the Editor: Cutaneous warts are seen in as many as a quarter of immunosuppressed patients. 1 Cell-mediated immunodeficiency, as seen in HIV, is correlated with increased rates of palmoplantar warts. 2 These warts often cause discomfort, and can progress to verrucous carcinoma. As they can be resistant to traditional treatments like cryotherapy, patients must resort to more aggressive and invasive measures like intralesional bleomycin. In this case report, we present an immunocompromised patient with HIV successfully treated for his palmoplantar human papilloma virus (HPV) warts using the nonavalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9TM, Merck Inc, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) after only marginal improvement with six treatments of bleomycin.