While
most of the health-related fund-raising these days is focusing
on Heart Disease (the number one lady killer) and Breast Cancer
an emotional hot button cervical cancer is the second-leading cause
of cancer death worldwide in women with half a million new cases
diagnosed yearly.
Major help is on the way, however, in the form of a new Vaccine
by Merck & Co., called Gardasil. It is controversial, however,
because the women it targets are our daughters and younger sisters,
It is most effective in girls between the ages of 10 and 15.
 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s)
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously
to recommend that girls and women 11 to 26 years old be vaccinated
with GARDASIL® [Quadrivalent Human Papilloma virus (Types
6, 11, 16, 18) Recombinant Vaccine] to prevent cervical cancer,
precancerous and low-grade lesions, and genital warts caused by
human papilloma virus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16 and 18. The Committee
recommended that the vaccine be administered to 11- and 12- year-old
females as well as to females aged 13 to 26 who have not previously
been vaccinated, and that nine- and 10 year-old females can be
vaccinated at the discretion of their physicians. The ACIP stated
that Pap and HPV screening prior to vaccination are not necessary.
The ACIP also recommended that females can receive the vaccine
regardless of whether they have or previously had an abnormal Pap
test, a positive HPV test or genital warts. This immunization would
be the first one ever to be used against cancer and preliminary
testing shows it to work with 100% effectiveness against its targeted
illness if it is administered before the individual has been exposed
to the disease.
GARDASIL was designed to target HPV types 16 and 18, which account
for 70 percent of cervical cancers, and HPV types 6 and 11, which
account for 90 percent of cases of genital warts. These four types
also cause benign cervical changes that result in “abnormal” Pap
tests. It does not protect against other strains of HPV and does
nothing to prevent HIV. It does not eliminate the need for PAP
screenings. What it does do is attack four major strains of the
human papilloma virus, a common sexually-transmitted pathogen.
According to the American Cancer Society, there are more than
100 strains of the human papilloma virus. About 60 HPV types are
responsible for common warts typically found on the hands or feet.
However, the remaining 40 types include viral strains that are
involved in virtually all cervical cancer as well as those that
cause other cancers of the rectum and genitals among other maladies.
HPV is spread primarily through sexual contact and is quite common.
The Society estimates that one-half to three-quarters of people
who have ever had sex, have had the virus at some point of their
lives. And while most people never develop any symptoms, they can
still spread the virus. National surveys show about one-third of
US teens are sexually active by ninth grade and as many as 7.4
percent have had sex before their 13th birthday.
But the important consideration here is that if young women have
already been exposed to these two most popular strains, the vaccine
has no effect. In fact, some of the early testing suggested that
women already infected with HPV may increase the kind of lesions
that lead to cervical cancer if they take the vaccine. So the plan
is to inoculate girls as young as possible, before they’ve
had sex, hence the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision to
allow the drug on girls as young as nine, or when they are in the
fourth grade.
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