A federal advisory panel voted unanimously yesterday to recommend approval of the world's first vaccine against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer and said girls as young as 9 years old can be inoculated.
This is very interesting. A vaccine against an STD. Why aren't there vaccines for STDs in the first place? That would certaintly help. Alot of people would get them I think because you never know what can happen. It's also interesting that they would give this to girls as young as 9. I hope that doesn't mean they think 9 year olds are having sex. Although there probably some who are (*shudder*), maybe 12 or 13 would be more appropriate.
10,000 American women are affected every year with cervical cancer, and nearly 4,000 of the cases result in death.
The vaccine would also protect against genital warts which is caused by the same virus. American women and men have a one in eight lifetime risk of becoming infected with genital warts.
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If you don't want an STD don't have sex end of story.
I was implying for cases of rape or such things.
Can we be a little more reasonable?
Telling people to deny natural urges to decrease their chances of becoming infected instead of doing scientific study into how to prevent these diseases is ridiculous.
In addition...the Center for Disease Control states...
Most people who have a genital HPV infection do not know they are infected. The virus lives in the skin or mucous membranes and usually causes no symptoms. Some people get visible genital warts, or have pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, vulva, anus, or penis. Very rarely, HPV infection results in anal or genital cancers.
Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.
Most women are diagnosed with HPV on the basis of abnormal Pap tests. A Pap test is the primary cancer-screening tool for cervical cancer or pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, many of which are related to HPV. Also, a specific test is available to detect HPV DNA in women. The test may be used in women with mild Pap test abnormalities, or in women >30 years of age at the time of Pap testing. The results of HPV DNA testing can help health care providers decide if further tests or treatment are necessary.
No HPV tests are available for men.
There is no "cure" for HPV infection, although in most women the infection goes away on its own. The treatments provided are directed to the changes in the skin or mucous membrane caused by HPV infection, such as warts and pre-cancerous changes in the cervix.
http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm#common
Telling people to not have sex in order to not get a disease that 80% of women will acquire is utterly insane and is undiagnosable in men (thus they have no idea they are spreading HPV until warts appear). We definately need to address this issue and if vaccines are the way to go, I am all for it!
Well, most STDs are caused by bacteria, and we treat those with antibiotics. Up until now, there was absolutely no way to treat viral STDs, that's why there weren't any vaccines available.