Q. I wanted to share a method that I have used several times for killing warts, and am curious if you have any insight that differs from mine.
My doctor gives me a recurring prescription for the antiviral drug amantadine. I take it with me when I travel in case I get the flu. I throw the bottle away when the pills expire.
The capsules are flexible with a yellow gooey substance inside. On a whim back in 2007 I cut one open (instead of throwing away the expired prescription) and squeezed the goo onto a big wart on my neck and covered it with a bandage. I figured warts were viral and maybe an antiviral drug would work.
Over the next few days, this wart began to turn pink. After about a week I was absentmindedly running my finger across it and it just fell off. Any thoughts?
A. To our astonishment, we did find a suggestion that the antiviral influenza medicine amantadine might work topically against genital warts. The accounts were brief and published in both Japanese and German medical journals decades ago. As far as we can tell, there has been no well-conducted scientific research on this fascinating discovery. You may have stumbled on something worth further investigation.
