The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Gardasil — a vaccine that targets four strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Two of the four viruses are responsible for approximately seventy percent of all cervical cancers. The other two virus strains are to blame for approximately ninety percent of all cases of genital warts.
HPV is most often spread through sexual contact. The virus is a very common sexually transmitted disease; approximately twenty million people in the United States are infected. According to the Centers for Disease Control, at least eighty percent of women will have had the virus by age fifty. Nearly ten thousand cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Nearly four thousand women will die from cervical cancer in 2006. Around the world, the FDA reports that there are nearly five hundred thousand new cases of cervical cancer every year.
Gardasil does not protect against all cervical cancers, but it does guard against the leading causes. The vaccination lasts at least four years, possibly longer; long-term results aren’t known yet. Studies of short-term effects found that Gardasil is 100% effective in protecting against the four strains of HPV in people who have not previously been exposed to the virus. Women who have already been exposed to HPV will not benefit from or be protected by Gardasil.
The FDA has approved Gardasil for girls and women between the ages of nine and twenty-six. It is not part of the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule, which includes (tetanus, measles, mumps) and others. By the end of the year, another cervical cancer vaccine called Cervarix is expected to be submitted to the FDA for approval.
The company that makes Gardasil is also continuing to research the use of the vaccine for boys and men, who can contract HPV through sexual contact, leading to genital warts.
Keep in mind that the vaccine will not eliminate the need for cervical cancer screening. Screening — like PAP smears and other tests — is essential to detect cancer and precancerous conditions caused by other strains of HPV. Screening is also essential for women who do not choose to be vaccinated or are already infected with some form of HPV.