HPV vaccine recommended for women through age 26
Human papillomavirus, a disease that causes 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts cases, is most common for people in their late teens and early twenties, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.
HPV was publicized widely earlier this year when Texas Governor Rick Perry tried to make the vaccine, called Gardasil, mandatory for all girls entering the sixth grade. The vaccine, generally thought of in regard to pre-teenage girls, actually is recommended for women through the age of 26 years old.
“If I were a 26-year-old who had never had intercourse or had never been exposed to the virus, I’d get the vaccine,” said Dr. Roger Yandell in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. “It definitely has more impact on younger girls, though. The cervix changes during menarche, a girl’s first period. That’s when it’s most susceptible to the virus, so we try to start the vaccine just before that takes place.”
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices consists of 15 experts - selected by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - who provide advice and guidance to the CDC. The committee recommends women through age 26 years old receive catch-up vaccinations, according to the CDC Web site.
“You have to look at what we’re trying to treat,” Yandell said. “Cervical cancer is really what we’re talking about here, and on a lesser scale, genital warts. This is the most common disease for causing either of those.”
Unlike many vaccines, Gardasil is a recombinant vaccine, which means it does not contain any live forms of the virus. According to the CDC Web site, the vaccine is comprised of proteins from the outer coat of the virus.
“There are a lot of different ways to make a vaccine,” Yandell said. “In this case, it works extremely well.”
The Food and Drug Administration first licensed Gardasil in June, 2006, according to the FDA Web site.
The vaccine protects against four different strains of HPV - types 6, 11, 16 and 18, according to the CDC Web site. At least 50 percent of all sexually active people will get HPV at some time in their lives. Approximately 6.2 million Americans get HPV each year.
Yandell said the reason college students need to be aware of this is that the risks increase with higher rates of sexual activity.
“For years - and I mean centuries - we’ve known that women with higher numbers of sexual partners have a greater risk for cancer,” he said. “It’s a sexually transmitted disease, and we’ve known that for a long time.”
There are approximately 100 types of HPV, Yandell said. The virus usually infects a woman’s cervix, altering the cells there. Most strains cause no symptoms and go away on their own, after which the cervical cells return to normal. Some types, however, do not go away. Instead, they continue to change the cells, which eventually can lead to cervical cancer.
“The virus invades the cells,” he said. “It changes them into something half-virus, half-human.”
According to the American Cancer Society Web site, www.cancer.org, approximately 11,150 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2007. About 3,670 women will die of it this year. According to the Web site, women can prevent most precancers of the cervix by avoiding exposure to HPV.
“We have a vaccine with the potential to eliminate one type of cancer,” Yandell said. “The sooner you get the vaccine, the higher your chance of being protected for the rest of your life.”
There is no treatment or cure for HPV, according to the CDC Web site. It is recommended that all women get the vaccine before contracting any form of HPV.
However, women who already have contracted one form still can benefit from the vaccine because it prevents four strains of HPV.
“The key is to get the immune system to recognize the virus,” Yandell said. “This could be a cure for a very nasty type of cancer. This has the potential to eliminate maybe 90 percent of that.”
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