Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 6.2 million new cases of sexually transmitted HPV infections reported every year. Health experts estimate there are more cases of genital HPV infection than any other STI in the United States.

There are more than 100 different types of HPV that are classified as high risk and low risk, out of which 30 HPV spread through sexual contact. Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Single or multiple bumps are seen in the genital areas of men and women including the vagina, cervix, vulva (area outside of the vagina), penis, and rectum in such cases. These are classified as low risk types. Common skin warts on the hands and soles of the feet could be caused by some types of HPV but they do not cause genital warts. You can get Genital warts during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with an infected partner as they are very contagious. HPV infection can also spread by skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, or (rarely) oral sex with someone who is infected. In women Genital warts can grow inside and around the outside of the vagina, on the vulva (opening to the vagina) and cervix, groin and in or around the anus. In men, genital warts can grow on the penis, scrotum, thigh, groin, or in or around the anus. While rarely, genital warts grow in the mouth or throat of a person who has had oral sex with an infected person. The size of genital warts may be so small, you can't see them with your eyes or it can be flat and flesh-colored or look bumpy like cauliflower. It is a possibility that warts may never appear. They may cause itching, burning, and discomfort. In fact, most people with low-risk types of genital HPV never know they are infected because they don't get warts or any other symptom. Most sexually active people have HPV at some point in their lives, though most will never know it because it usual growths are usually flat and invisible

It is said that approximately 10 of the 30 identified genital HPV types can lead, in rare cases, to development of cervical cancer. High-risk types of HPV could lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus, or penis.

To know that you have an HPV infection you can have a Pap test. This test can find changes on the cervix, caused by an HPV infection. The doctor uses a small brush to take cells from your cervix. It is a simple, fast and the best way to find out if your cervix is healthy. If you are of the age of 30 and above the doctor may also do an HPV test without a Pap test. If you have genital warts then as said earlier it can tell you that you have an HPV infection. HPV mostly does not causes serious health problems in men, with the exception of anal cancer in men who have sex with men. There is no test for HPV in men.

The HPV vaccine is generally recommended for 11-12 year-old girls. It can also be given to girls as young as 9. The vaccine is also recommended for females’ from13 to 26 years of age who have not yet received or completed the vaccine series. The vaccine should be given before the females are sexually active as they get the full benefits of the vaccine when they are not infected with any of those four HPV. It is yet not know if the vaccine is effective in boys or men.

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HPV, Immunization - The Facts Are Simple

While abstinence is 100% effective for those that make that choice. Condoms can work but are only effective is used correctly and as long as they do not break. Also, these solution also have absolutely no benefit for those that are victims of sex crimes like rape or molestation.

It is a hard pill to swallow but 1 in 8 women are raped in their life time.

According to the National center for Victims of Crime:

12.1 million American women have been victims of forcible rape. In other words, 13% or one out of eight adult American women has been the victim of forcible rape in her lifetime. (National Center for Victims of Crime & Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992.)

In 1994, 64.2% of all rapes and sexual assaults were committed by offenders who were previously known to the victim. (Ringel, 1997).

The fact is these women are often in a much higher risk group for STI’s (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Very often these victims are young girls or young women. This vaccine can at least spare them this additional risk after such a horrible violation.

Then look at the facts:

How common is HPV in the population? Chances are that you have already had, currently have it or will have it.

According to the CDC:

At least 50% of sexually active people will get HPV at some time in their lives. Every year in the United States (U.S.), about 6.2 million people get HPV. HPV is most common in young women and men who are in their late teens and early 20s.

As published in the April, 2005 issue of April issue of the journal Lancet Oncology

The vaccine “…human papillomavirus that are most likely to cause cervical cancer or genital warts was 89% effective in preventing infection with the viral strains and 100% effective in preventing cervical cancer, precancerous lesions or genital warts, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Lancet Oncology."

According to the CDC:

The FDA has licensed the HPV vaccine as safe and effective. This vaccine has been tested in over 11,000 females (ages 9-26 years) around the world. These studies have shown no serious side effects. The most common side effect is soreness at the injection site. CDC, working with the FDA, will continue to monitor the safety of the vaccine after it is in general use.

So testing has been done on girls as young as 9. This is a perfectly acceptable form of prevention based on legitimate research and reputable sources. In medicine you weight the benefit versus risk. The research is showing that the biggest risk with the injection is a sore spot at the injection site, something akin to a slight soreness, probably very similar to my allergy shots. So a day of very mild almost imperceptible irritation. The other side of this coin is that there is a 1 in 8 chance that the person could have pre-cancerous cells forming on their cervix.

The prevalence of the disease if extremely widespread and can be found everywhere. Every one of you knows someone who has is, will have it or already had it. If you have ever had sex you probably had sex with someone that had it. So it will definitely meet the “requirement" to be wide spread. So the Government can easily show in court that it has a “compelling interest" due the fact that this disease is in fact wide spread.

“… the Arkansas Supreme Court in Wright v. DeWitt School District45 held that no First Amendment right existed to a religious exemption given the state’s compelling interest in mandating vaccination under its police power to protect the public health.g (238 Ark. at 913, 385 S.W.2d at 648). Significantly, the U.S. Supreme Court in Yoder referenced the Wright decision in dicta regarding cases in which the health of the child or public health are at issue, with the implication that a vaccination mandate providing no religious exemption would meet the compelling state interest test (406 U.S. at 230, 92 S.Ct. at 1540–1)."

I can tell you from experience that the scare these precancerous cells cause are not fun. My wife went through this a few years ago. While it is really not a very big deal if caught early, that wait for analysis is fairly nerve wracking. If a simple vaccine could have prevented such a thing, It would have been well worth it.

This is a public health issue, the problem is wide spread and large numbers of Americans are at risk from this disease that we now have the power to eradicate. To put this in perspective, Approximately 20 million Americans (CDC) have this disease; that is equal to the population of the entire state of Texas.

When it comes to this disease, people need to look at the facts and not the hysteria generated by a politically motivated religious right movement that obviously has zero concern for the health of girls or women. It is amazing how much of this anti-vaccine agenda is promoted using out right lies and misinformation. What ever happened to “though shall not lie?" In fact lying and intentionally endangering the health of hundreds of thousands of people is repugnant and amoral.

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Gardasil Vaccine for HPV-Related Cancer Full of Dangers

School supplies and new outfits are on parents’ minds at this time of year, but they should be aware of a new danger – the aggressive promotion of the potent vaccine Gardasil, which has been linked to the deaths of up to 39 women and a host of other problems.

Produced by Merck & Co., Gardasil is a vaccine designed to prevent human papilloma virus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection which can cause cervical cancer. Advertised as a “vaccine against cancer,” Merck has poured millions of dollars into a promotion campaign that has reached to the level of school and city health officials.

But an independent study by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) compared Gardasil with Manactra, an anti-meningitis drug that is also given to children. The report said, “compared to Menactra, receipt of Gardasil is associated with at least twice as many emergency room visit reports; four times more death reports; five times more ‘did not recover’ reports; and seven times more ‘disabled’ reports.”

“Catalog of Horrors”

Approved by the FDA in 2006 for girls and women age 9 through 26, Gardasil is the focus of some 6,700 unsettling cases reported by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), an agency of the department of Health and Human Services. Many of the cases seem to indicate a possible cause and effect relationship between the drug and its many problems. It is estimated that only one in ten adverse effects of such drugs are reported.

"The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors,” said Tom Fitten, president of Judicial Watch, a non-partisan watchdog group that says that there has not been a chance to study long-term side effects of the vaccine.

School and public health officials have been pushing the vaccine for girls in the weeks before school begins, and some states have considered mandatory vaccinations.

Many Side Effects

The FDA package insert for the drug lists these possible side effects: headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, local injection site reactions such as pain, swelling of the skin, itching, and bruising, seizure-like activity, and anaphylaxis, which is an allergic reaction.

Womancare Services, Inc. - About the Author:

Women in Berwyn, Oak Park, Stickney, LaGrange, Cicero, Westchester, and nearby towns are encouraged to learn more about the vaccine, and the suitability of its use for you or your daughter by contacting WomanCare Services in Berwyn, IL. WomanCare Services offers help to women facing unintended pregnancies in the near southwest Chicago area. Go to WomanCare Services. Or call 708-795-6000.

Source:  http://www.articlesbase.com/womens-health-articles/gardasil-vaccine-for-hpvrelated-cancer-full-of-dangers-1480085.html