Dear Dr. Bruce, My son who is 22 was diagnosed with renal failure 1 1/2 years ago, has been on dialysis for 1 year now. With in this last 6 months he had an outbreak of gential warts (which has never occured before this). The nodes in his groin were swollen a bit, now down. He has had a node swollen on this right side of his neck and he says his armpits hurt, although, no swollen nodes. He has had another outbreak and is scared, doesn't know what to do , how to treat, if the nodes are related, or if it is all related to dialysis and immune system with renalfailure...Do you have any input on this? He and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Mom and J

Any disease which impairs the immune system can cause genital warts to progress more quickly than in the absence of such a disease. I am assuming that your son is HIV-negative though you don't necessarily mention it. It is entirely possible that the renal failure and dialysis are contributing to the genital warts. I can only recommend that the warts be treated aggressively since they will no doubt continue to grow if they are not taken care of. If your son has not been tested for HIV, then he probably should be, though nothing you have written necessarily suggests to me that he is HIV-positive. My very best goes out to you-- dealing with dialysis is no easy feat.