Comments on: A vaccine debate once focused on sex shifts as boys join the target market http://oralcancernews.org/wp/a-vaccine-debate-once-focused-on-sex-shifts-as-boys-join-the-target-market/ The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:08:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hilllaguna http://oralcancernews.org/wp/a-vaccine-debate-once-focused-on-sex-shifts-as-boys-join-the-target-market/comment-page-1/#comment-211 hilllaguna Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:52:07 +0000 http://oralcancernews.org/wp/?p=2612#comment-211 What this intelligent article is missing, is there is not ONE comment about the fact that this vaccine will likely prevent the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population, young non smoking HPV 16 positive patients, from extreme morbidity and death. What about anal cancers also caused by HPV16 that the vaccine covers? What about cancer of the penis also caused primarily by HPV16? What about oropharynx and tonsil cancers? All these cancers added up cause significantly more annual deaths than cervical cancer, from which only about 3700 women in the US will die this year. Oral cancer alone will take the life of one person every hour of every day, 24-7-365. 100 newly diagnosed patients will be found in the US alone each day this year. An increasing proportion of them from HPV16. <strong>Why is this not part of the dialog?</strong> The correct dialog here is missing. Genital warts are a non issue. Oral cancer is a real and growing problem. There was an 11% increase in the incidence rate of oral cancer in 2007 alone, mostly HPV16 caused posterior of the mouth SCC. Theses people are having the wrong discussion. Even if you only want to talk about cervical cancer, men are vectors of the virus to women, they are part of what keeps the reservoir of the virus so large in the US. More importantly, men are the larger part of the oral cancer HPV positive disease patients. The FDA, Merck and now GSK, need to get on the correct topic. How do we protect our children from a disease that kills more people than cervical cancer by almost a factor of 3, that is growing in incidence at alarming rates? Vaccination. The FDA is being over protective after some bad calls recently on things like Celebrex. Those mistakes should not color their approach to new opportunities like these vaccines. The social issues can be sorted out, but when the population understands the ramifications of the vaccine's ability to protect people from these OTHER DEADLY CANCERS, the conversation will need to change. People are dying, and we are talking about the possibility that our kids might be having sex at an earlier age, and genital warts….. pathetic. What this intelligent article is missing, is there is not ONE comment about the fact that this vaccine will likely prevent the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population, young non smoking HPV 16 positive patients, from extreme morbidity and death. What about anal cancers also caused by HPV16 that the vaccine covers? What about cancer of the penis also caused primarily by HPV16? What about oropharynx and tonsil cancers? All these cancers added up cause significantly more annual deaths than cervical cancer, from which only about 3700 women in the US will die this year. Oral cancer alone will take the life of one person every hour of every day, 24-7-365. 100 newly diagnosed patients will be found in the US alone each day this year. An increasing proportion of them from HPV16. Why is this not part of the dialog?

The correct dialog here is missing. Genital warts are a non issue. Oral cancer is a real and growing problem. There was an 11% increase in the incidence rate of oral cancer in 2007 alone, mostly HPV16 caused posterior of the mouth SCC. Theses people are having the wrong discussion. Even if you only want to talk about cervical cancer, men are vectors of the virus to women, they are part of what keeps the reservoir of the virus so large in the US. More importantly, men are the larger part of the oral cancer HPV positive disease patients.

The FDA, Merck and now GSK, need to get on the correct topic. How do we protect our children from a disease that kills more people than cervical cancer by almost a factor of 3, that is growing in incidence at alarming rates? Vaccination. The FDA is being over protective after some bad calls recently on things like Celebrex. Those mistakes should not color their approach to new opportunities like these vaccines.

The social issues can be sorted out, but when the population understands the ramifications of the vaccine’s ability to protect people from these OTHER DEADLY CANCERS, the conversation will need to change. People are dying, and we are talking about the possibility that our kids might be having sex at an earlier age, and genital warts….. pathetic.

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