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Oct. 16--A breakthrough in cancer treatment occurred over the summer.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, on June 8. HPV, the cause of most cervical cancers and genital warts, affects approximately 50 percent of sexually active individuals. The vaccine, made by Merck & Co., Inc., is based on laboratory research and technology developed at the National Cancer Institute. It is the first of its kind licensed by the FDA.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide, according to MSN news article "Are You a Candidate for a Cervical Cancer Vaccine?" The virus kills about 290,000 women worldwide, and nearly 4,000 women in the United States alone, according to the National Cancer Institute. It is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. If left untreated in women, the virus can invade the cervical cells in the uterus and cause cancer.
You may be wondering what exactly is HPV. HPV is a class of viruses that encompasses over 100 different strains. You can get infected with one of these strains during your first sexual encounter, according to Dr. Harry Hull, M.D., state epidemiologist of Minnesota Department of Health and member of the Center for Disease Control's immunization advisory committee.
Some doctors support the new vaccine, but it still carries some controversy among experts. Hull reports to MSN news that if a woman already has been infected with a strain of HPV, then future immunity is impossible. So, for the HPV vaccine to be effective, it must be administered before a person becomes sexually active. So is it still worth it to receive the vaccine even if you're already having sex?
Of the numerous HPV strains, only four cause nearly all of the world's cervical cancers and genital warts: Types 16 and 18, and Types 6 and 11, respectively. Gardasil is designed to target these four strains, so even if you have been infected with one, the vaccine can still protect against the other three types. Some doctors argue that partial immunity is better than having none.
Gardasil has been licensed to be administered to females between the ages 9 and 26. Doctors may prescribe the vaccine to women over the age of 26, but only if conditions are right. Dr. Bradley Busacco, a gynecologist and obstetrician in Cincinnati, Ohio reported to MSN news that these conditions are that the patient has had normal Pap smears her whole life and that there is no evidence of an HPV infection.
Experts believe, according to ABC News, that the vaccine will especially help in poorer nations where most women do not have access to preventive health care like Pap smears. In most developing countries, the number of affected women exceeds the number of deaths from cervical cancer in the United States.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Heights, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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