Genital warts should really be known as anogenital warts, as they occur on the anus as well as the genitals. The warts themselves can be removed, but the virus that causes them can't be cured. They're very common, with around 80,000 new cases diagnosed in the UK in 2004, split roughly 50:50 between men and women. Government data suggests they're uniformly distributed across the UK.
Genital warts are caused by a virus called HPV. You can have the virus for years without getting the warts - in fact most sexually active people have been exposed to the HPV virus even if they do not show symptoms. But if warts do appear, you'll see small lumps on your genitals, scrotum, inside the vagina or on your anus, that will appear no sooner than a month after you became infected. The lumps can look a bit like small white or pink versions of a cauliflower.
Like genital herpes, using a condom doesn't necessarily protect you from genital warts because the virus passes through your skin when you touch someone else's warts, wherever they are. That said, the most common way of catching genital warts is through unprotected vaginal or anal sex. There isn't much evidence to prove that oral sex spreads warts.
To test for genital warts a doctor normally just needs to look at them. Clearly, if you have warts in your vagina or anus, this will require an internal examination.
Doctors can use a cream or a liquid to remove warts, but they can also be frozen off. The problem is that because the doctor treats the warts and not the HPV virus that causes the warts in the first place, you'll probably experience more warts at a later date.