promiscuity – Oral Cancer News

HPV rates down, CDC credits vaccine

Source: www.thv11.com Author: Winnie Wright Researchers say the rates of a cancer causing virus are on the decline thanks to vaccinations. In recent years, vaccinations have become a hot-button issue for parents and the HPV vaccine was no exception. When the CDC began recommending the Human papillomavirus vaccine in 2006, there was a lot of push back from parents. A new study from the CDC says the rates of HPV infection are down 63 percent among girls ages 14 to 19 in the last decade and it credits the HPV vaccination. The vaccine was very controversial when it hit the main stream 10 years ago, and THV11 wanted to know, have those findings changed parents’ minds about the vaccination? “I think there was a great fear that the HPV Vaccine was some sort of signal to adolescent girls that sex was safe. And that there would be an increase in sexual activity and promiscuity, and in fact, that’s not happened. We’ve seen sort of the opposite,” explained Dr. Gary Wheeler, CMO for the Arkansas Department of Health. HPV is most commonly spread through sex. According to the CDC, an estimated 79 million females aged 14-59 are infected with HPV. 14 million new infections are reported in the U.S. each year. When Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, was introduced in 2006, it was a hard pill for many parents to swallow. The vaccine is especially encouraged for children under the age of 12, because it’s most effective the younger you are. Parents [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-03-02T14:49:52-07:00March, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Manitoba expands HPV vaccination program to include boys

Source: www.rapidnewsnetwork.comAuthor: Cody Griffin While most HPV infections go away over time with no treatment, a few can go on to cause cancer. Health Minister Sharon Blady said the province’s vaccine program will be expanded next year to include Grade 6 and Grade 9 boys as part of Manitoba’s cancer strategy. The province will also be doing a catch-up period in grade 9. About 59 percent of the physicians recommended HPV vaccination more often for adolescents who they perceived to be at higher risk for getting an HPV infection, as opposed to recommending it routinely for all adolescents. “Human papillomavirus can cause abnormal cell changes that can lead to cervical cancer, as well as cancer of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, mouth and throat”, said Dr. Sri Navaratnam, president and CEO, CancerCare Manitoba. A study in Texas found that a more rigorous, information driven outreach program increased the number of children receiving the vaccine, and other recent studies have reinforced the efficacy of the vaccine to prevent cancer and not promote promiscuity among teenagers. Any girl or boy who misses the vaccine in Grade 6 will be eligible to get it in later years free of charge under the province’s “once eligible, always eligible”, program. But now we know it causes cancer in men as well. Gilkey and colleagues found that 27 percent of physicians across the country reported that they do not strongly endorse HPV vaccination, and 26 percent and 39 percent reported that they do not provide timely recommendations [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-10-23T11:47:34-07:00October, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccination does not increase promiscuity among adolescents: It’s a vaccine against sexually transmitted cancer

Source: reason.com Author: Ronald Bailey On February 3, 2015, libertarian radio host Andrew Wilkow invited me to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination. We disagreed: Mr. Wilkow is considerably more worried about the risks than is warranted by the scientific evidence. During the segment, Mr. Wilkow stated that he did not plan to have his two-year old daughter vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV). Infection with human papilloma virus is responsible for about 11,967 new cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer and for about 2,370 new cases of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers in women and nearly 9,356 new cases in men each year in the United States. During the radio segment, I mentioned that a male friend had recently died of HPV-associated head-and-neck cancer. I failed to mention that another male friend is being treated for that cancer now. Mr. Wilkow argued that since the vaccine immunizes against a sexually transmitted disease that he saw no reason to have his daughter vaccinated against it. The series of three HPV injections is recommended to start after age 9, so Mr. Wilkow has time to reconsider. Mr. Wilkow is, however, not alone in his opposition to HPV vaccination. A 2014 study in Clinical Pediatrics reported the results of a survey of parents' actions regarding HPV vaccination. The researchers found: A significantly higher proportion of parents of girls who were non-Hispanic white, lived in households with higher incomes, and had mothers with higher education levels, delayed and/or refused vaccination. Another of the early [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-02-11T08:16:00-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Why HPV vaccination makes a difference against cancer

Source: www.cbsnews.com Author: Michelle Castillo Michael Douglas' frank discussion about the human papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cancer has put a spotlight on the dangers of the sexually transmitted virus. While using a condom may reduce risk for HPV, doctors are reminding people that the best way to protect oneself from the disease that can potentially lead to cancer is to get vaccinated at an early age and, if possible, go for routine screenings. HPV is a group of more than 100 very common viruses, about 40 of which can be transmitted sexually, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health. Approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected with an HPV strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and nearly all sexually active men and women will get one type of sexually transmitted HPV in their lifetime. Specifically, 20 million people in the U.S. between the ages of 15 to 49 are infected with a genital HPV at any given time, and about half of men and women can expect to be infected with genital HPV in their lifetime. "HPV is ubiquitous in our population," Dr. Lori Wirth, medical director of the Center for Head and Neck Cancers center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, explained to CBSNews.com. "Anyone who has led a normal sex life will get HPV, and develop antibodies to the virus. But, a minority of people who have contact with the virus who don't effectively clear the virus from [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-06-12T07:21:26-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Dose of reality: HPV is epidemic, which is odd since it is largely preventable

Source: www.sciencenews.org Author: Nathan Seppa There are two vaccines that guard against human papillomavirus, and they are in rare company among medical inventions — the vaccines prevent cancer. Only the hepatitis B vaccine can make the same claim. Cancer-causing HPV can trigger abnormal cell growth on the cervix, and cervical cancer still kills up to 4,000 U.S. women each year. The virus is also implicated in cancers occurring in the anus and the throat. All told, according to a 2011 study, 29 percent of sexually active U.S. girls and women carry a potentially cancer-causing HPV infection. Preteen and adolescent girls and boys are priority groups for vaccines that prevent human papillomavirus infection.© Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters/Corbis Back in 2006 and 2009, when the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix came onto the market, health officials dreamed of halting the spread of HPV, which is sexually transmitted, in a single generation. Scientists call such blanket coverage herd immunity — in which a pathogen gets vaccinated into oblivion, becoming so rare that even unvaccinated people are protected. With such heady potential, Gardasil, developed by Merck, and Cervarix, created by GlaxoSmithKline, should be an easy sell. They rev up a potent immunity against HPV 16 and 18, the two types of the virus that account for most cases of cervical cancer. Gardasil also prevents most genital warts. The immunity the vaccines provide is many-fold better than the weak protection engendered by a run-in with the virus itself, and since approval, both vaccines have proven [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-04-24T12:59:51-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|