human papillomavirus HPV

Expand the search for oral cancer

Dentistry's responsibilities remain vital in stopping cancer deaths By: Donna Grzegorek, RDH Source: RDH magazine As dental professionals, we have a remarkable opportunity to affect the health and well-being of each patient we treat. This responsibility manifests itself in patients' expectations, which is to inform them of disease at the earliest possible moment. This is the fifth consecutive year in which there has been an increase in the rate of occurrence of oral cancers; yet, for several decades the mortality rates for this insidious disease remained virtually unchanged. OCF As dental professionals and health-care providers, we have an obligation to be vigilant in our commitment to early detection, raising awareness, and the management of the cancer for which we as a profession are held accountable. Approximately 37,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year. This menacing disease will cause 8,000 deaths, killing approximately one person per hour, 24 hours a day. Of these 37,000 newly-diagnosed individuals, only slightly more than half will survive five years. The mortality rate for oral cancer is higher than that of other cancers we hear about routinely such as cervical cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, laryngeal cancer, cancer of the testes, and endocrine system cancers such as thyroid or skin cancer (malignant melanoma). If you expand the definition of oral cancers to include cancer of the larynx, for which the risk factors are indistinguishable, the number of diagnosed cases grows to approximately 50,000 individuals and 13,500 deaths per year in the United States [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-18T10:06:03-07:00February, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Cancer vaccinations for boys by 2012?

Source: Star Observer The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) will determine if the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, should be included in the National Immunisation Program for boys. Gardasil is currently administered to girls when they begin high school to prevent cervical cancer. HPV, however, also causes throat cancer, genital and anal warts, and cancer of the penis. Gardasil is approved in Australia for use in boys and men aged nine to 26. Without subsidy, it costs $450 a treatment, and most parents are unaware of the protection it offers boys. Professor Andrew Grulich, of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, told the Star Observer that few boys outside those from medical families were being immunised. “The boys who are getting it more than any others are the sons of doctors because doctors are aware of the enormous benefits of this vaccine for boys,” Grulich said. “There is absolutely no doubt it will prevent most anal cancer, that it will prevent quite a bit of penile cancer, and that it will prevent almost all anal and genital warts.” Grulich said HPV was now responsible for the lion’s share of cancers in the back of the throat in Australia due to lower rates of smoking, and oral sex growing in acceptability. “Those cancers have been increasing over the last 20 or 30 years. Previously we thought perhaps 20 or 30 percent of those cancers were caused by HPV and now it’s more like 70 percent. “It’s really important [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-10T11:06:22-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Study suggests Merck’s Gardasil is effective in males

Source: money.cnn.com Author: Peter Loftus A new study suggests Merck & Co.'s (MRK) Gardasil vaccine, which is primarily given to prevent cervical cancer in girls and women, may also be effective in preventing genital warts and penile cancer when given to males. Merck hopes the company-funded study will support roughly doubling the target population for the vaccine, which could help jump-start sagging sales. The Whitehouse Station, N.J., company said it remains on track to apply by year end for Food and Drug Administration approval to market Gardasil to boys and men ages 9 to 26 for prevention of external genital lesions caused by certain viral strains. "This is groundbreaking data," said Anna Giuliano, professor of medicine and epidemiology at University of South Florida, who co-authored the study. "To demonstrate that Gardasil prevents infection and disease at a very high level in males - that's the other half of the world." It was the first study to demonstrate Gardasil's effectiveness in males - prior studies had shown it could produce a positive immune response in males. The vaccine, which was launched in 2006, is currently approved in the U.S. for girls and women ages 9 through 26 to prevent cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers, as well as genital warts and other lesions caused by certain viral strains. These diseases, in both males and females, share the same cause: Human papillomavirus, or HPV, which is transmitted through sexual contact. The cancers in men caused by HPV, however, are rarer than cervical cancer. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-11-13T16:09:00-07:00November, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Virus discoveries secure Nobel prize in medicine

Source: www.nature.com Author: Alison Abbott This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honors three Europeans who discovered viruses that cause deadly diseases, and whose findings have led to major medical advances. Harald zur Hausen, former director of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, was honoured for his work on the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. A protective vaccine for this virus has now been developed and is in widespread use. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier share the other half of the prize for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), which causes AIDS. Zur Hausen was the only one of the three who was at home when the famous call from Stockholm came. Montagnier, now director of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, was working in the Côte d'Ivoire. Barré-Sinoussi, who is at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, was in Cambodia. The Nobel committee had been unable to contact either before the time of the announcement. Search for the AIDS virus Barré-Sinoussi — who, accompanied only by her mobile phone, found herself overwhelmed by the event — becomes the 36th woman to win a Nobel prize of any kind, compared with a list of 745 male laureates. She worked with Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute, from the beginning of the hunt for the virus causing AIDS in the early 1980s. The pair identified the virus, which they originally called LAV (lymphadenopathy associated virus), in 1983. A bitter battle for credit [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-10-07T07:49:50-07:00October, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

A Cancer Cause You Need to Know About

Source: Reader's Digest (www.rd.com) Author: Julie Bain Reader’s Digest was way ahead of the curve when we published a small item in the “Medical Update” section three years ago about the link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and some head and neck cancers. At a medical conference, I’d heard a researcher from Johns Hopkins present a report on the rise of certain oral cancers in young nonsmokers that seemed to be caused by this very common sexually transmitted virus. She called it a coming epidemic, and it really scared me. That was around the time of the debut of the vaccine Gardasil, designed to protect girls and young women from most of the types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer. I kept asking myself, “Why are we only vaccinating girls from this dangerous virus that can be spread from any kind of sexual contact, including oral sex?” It didn’t make sense to me then, and it doesn’t make sense to me now. After we printed the short item about this in 2005, I waited for the media to catch on to the story. But the media didn’t. I watched for more research and thought about ways I could write about it. Then, in 2006, I was devastated to learn that my friend Steve Reynolds had been diagnosed with a stage IV squamous cell carcinoma at the base of his tongue. Throat cancer. Steve, a 40-something nonsmoker (below), couldn’t understand how this had happened to him—until the biopsy showed it was [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-19T21:00:16-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|