Study: Cervical Cancer Vaccine Works

Fox News ^ | 10/6/05 | AP

[jalisco555]

The first major study of an experimental vaccine to prevent cervical cancer (search) found it was 100 percent effective, in the short term, at blocking the disease and lesions likely to turn cancerous, drug maker Merck & Co said.

Gardasil, a genetically engineered vaccine, blocks infection with two of the 100-plus types of human papilloma virus, HPV 16 and 18. The two sexually transmitted viruses together cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Other types of HPV also can cause cervical cancer and painful genital warts. About 20 million Americans have some form of HPV.

The final-stage study of Gardasil included 10,559 sexually active women ages 16 to 26 in the United States and 12 other countries who were not infected with HPV 16 or 18. Half got three vaccine doses over six months; half got dummy shots.

[bella1]

You are correct. It is a sexually transmitted disease.

[adam_az]

ping

[eccentric]

In the last 10-15 years, it seems that someone decided to tell the truth. Before 1990, the public was simply told that ALL women needed a pap smear and that certain women were at higher risk than others, no reason why.

It was also kept secret that antibiotics interfered with birth control pills. I got a grandson that way.

[RockinRight]

I always wondered why antibiotics did that.