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Who doesn't need some good news today?
There is now a vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus, the virus believed to cause most cervical cancer.
The vaccine provides antibody protection against the two strains of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV-16 and HPV-18) linked to 70% of cervical cancer cases. In clinical trials thus far, the vaccine was 100% effective in women who had not previously been exposed to HPV.
Sometimes categorised as a sexually-transmitted disease, HPV can be transmitted either on contact with a mucous membrane or via skin-to-skin contact; the virii are small enough to pass through condoms. The average person has a very high chance, as high as 95% by some estimates, of being infected with HPV at some point during their lifetime. Most infections cause no obvious symptoms and pass unnoticed, though some people develop "genital warts" around the infection site, sometimes months or even years after exposure.
There is as yet no information on the vaccine's efficacy in preventing genital wart symptoms of HPV infection. Clinical trials continue, and companies are hoping to have regulatory approval as soon as 2006 to dispense the vaccine in Europe. Later trials may or may not look at the vaccine's performance in males.
The vaccine provides antibody protection against the two strains of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV-16 and HPV-18) linked to 70% of cervical cancer cases. In clinical trials thus far, the vaccine was 100% effective in women who had not previously been exposed to HPV.
Sometimes categorised as a sexually-transmitted disease, HPV can be transmitted either on contact with a mucous membrane or via skin-to-skin contact; the virii are small enough to pass through condoms. The average person has a very high chance, as high as 95% by some estimates, of being infected with HPV at some point during their lifetime. Most infections cause no obvious symptoms and pass unnoticed, though some people develop "genital warts" around the infection site, sometimes months or even years after exposure.
There is as yet no information on the vaccine's efficacy in preventing genital wart symptoms of HPV infection. Clinical trials continue, and companies are hoping to have regulatory approval as soon as 2006 to dispense the vaccine in Europe. Later trials may or may not look at the vaccine's performance in males.