Thanks, I’m afraid at 1 am last night my explanations were not as clear as they could have been. Your analogy here is good, except it’s more like this:
There are say about 30 strains of HPV.
The “BIG 10” are called “virulent” and are more likely to lead to cancer, although they do not necessarily result in cancer.
BUT...Gardisil does NOT protect you against the “TOP 7” - more like the TOP 2 or 3. Only a few of the virulent strains.
Technically Merck is correct that “Gardisil prevents cancer” but that statement comes very close to being a gross exaggeration.
The WHO report on a worldwide study was enlightening. Cervical cancer is much more destructive in the third-world than here. I have no idea if Merck can make a profit on it in the West, but down stream ~ 20 years or so ~ even the most primitive societies in the world will benefit from it to the degree it can be benefited from.
So it's not a bad idea ~ but it's also not a cure!
You know it's only been a few years since medical researchers caught on to the fact this batch of viruses cause cancer. For many years that sort of idea was almost denounced by the "old guard" who believed all cancers (except a few in dogs) were caused by mutations in human cells, or, the slightly "newer guard" of environmental whacko medical researchers who wanted us to believe that modern chemistry was killing us all with cancer (and the anti-tobacco lobby wanted us to believe it was cigarettes).