According to the CDC, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection that has infected around 79 million Americans. Additionally, the prevalence of this disease is only increasing, as it affects around 14 million new people each year.
So what makes this STI different from other STIs?
As the CDC states, HPV has the potential of causing deathly cancers such as cancer of the cervical, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and throat. There are more than 40 types of HPV that can affect the genital area, but 9 of them are known to cause the majority of HPV-related cancer and diseases. These are Types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. HPV is a growing threat to society.
But how do we eliminate the threat?
The answer is easy–vaccination! There are three vaccines available on the market: Gardasil, Gardasil 9, and Cervarix. The Gardasil (both Merk’s original and Gardasil 9) vaccines are a virus-like particle vaccine. This means that the vaccine is not infectious because it lacks the virus’s DNA, but it is extremely effective because it resembles the virus. The Gardasil vaccines induce the production of antibodies, that cause the body to build immunity to the virus. Therefore, if a person is exposed to the virus, they will be protected by their adaptive immune response. The Cervarix vaccine is a vaccine that can work against additional viruses/other microorganisms. It also highly effective against cervical cancer. According to the Healio, the vaccine has the ability to reduce 90% of cervical cancer incidence around the world. However, the vaccine comes with concern from the public. The vaccine is recommended to begin being administered around the age of 12-15. Many parents think this is too young of an age, and believe their children will become influenced to participate in sexual activity. However, the CDC just advises the vaccine be given before adolescents engage in sexual activity.
The Gardasil 9 vaccine is a 9-valent vaccine that helps to protect against all of the HPV types that were stated previously in relation to causing cancer. An article in Can Fam Physician describes clinical trials with the 9-valent vaccine where a double-blind study was performed involving more than 14,000 women ages 16-26. These women were given 3 doses of either the 9-valent or quadrivalent HPV vaccine–only protects against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18. The researchers found that the presence of cancer in the group that received the 9-valent vaccine was significantly less than the group that received the quadrivalent vaccine. The patients that recieved the 9-valent vaccine experienced slightly more adverse effects than the quadrivalent group such as swelling, pain, and erythema.
As I explained in my post from last week, I have never received the Gardasil vaccine. My lack of immunity to the disease is contributed to the hesitancy my mother had from reading articles on Facebook. My mother is very pro-vaccine as she is an ER nurse, so the fact that she has hesitancy towards this certain vaccine has always puzzled me. Recently, she sent me an article on Facebook on how the Gardasil vaccine has caused autoimmune problems in women that resulted in death. After investigating the source from which this article was published, I found that this source did not post reliable information. I learned from this experience that educating the public on the safety of vaccines is in high demand at this time. Without education, the public does not know what to believe.
Vaccine Culture 