I learned a lot these past few weeks. I learned that what I thought I knew about HPV was all wrong, or at least incomplete.
Cervical cancer has been huge, especially on TV, for the past few years. All of a sudden my doctor is telling me to get vaccinated for HPV, and she makes it sound like I'm going to die if I don't. The message I got from all of this was: get vaccinated or you might develop cervical cancer because it's a huge risk.
But I and millions of other women are missing a lot of crucial information.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most commonly sexually transmitted infection in the United States, and the world. So common, in fact, that half of all sexually active men and women will contract HPV at some point in their lives. Hm. Didn't know that.
However, HPV usually comes and goes without a sound and leaves no lasting effects. There are over 100 strains, and many of them don't do a thing to us.
But then there are the ones that do. Two strains of the virus -- HPV-16 and 18 -- are associated with cancer development. Two others -- HPV-6 and 11 -- are associated with 90 percent of genital warts. There are two vaccines that protect against the cancer-causing strains, Gardasil and Cervarix, and the former also protects from the wart-causing strains.
And while the common misconception is that HPV only causes cervical cancer, the infection can actually cause several cancers, although half of the cancers caused by it are cervical. Anal cancer is also the result of HPV infection, especially in men who have sex with men. Other cancers include vaginal, penile, throat and vulvar. So it seems the HPV vaccine, which a new study shows can prevent infection in men as well as women, is a blessing for many at-risk individuals.
However, I typed "harmful HPV" into Google one day, and the first thing to pop up was "harmful HPV vaccines."
A lot of the fear associated with any vaccine comes from action taken when there is no perceivable immediate threat. For HPV, the fact that this is a sexually transmittable infection makes it even more uncomfortable for many parents to consider concerning their adolescent children, since the vaccine is most effective before sexual activity begins. Because of this, the vaccine may be thought of as a gateway for sexual activity. Right now uptake in American women is woefully low, less than 30 percent, although it has been rising.
According to 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research, major barriers to vaccination include "belief that a child does not need the vaccine, lack of sufficient vaccine knowledge, and the fact that the child was not sexually active."
Another study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2010 found that physicians themselves often didn't have the facts correct about HPV, some mistaking the most common age of transmission as over 30 when in fact it is under age 30. And while almost all of the pediatricians and family practitioners surveyed offered HPV vaccines to 11- and 12-year-old girls, many of them did not strongly recommend it and expressed reservations toward vaccinating younger girls for sexually transmitted infections.
Add in cost and negative media coverage, including anti-vaccination movements, and a parent may see more value in avoiding the vaccine than attempting it.
In rural communities, these barriers can be magnified. The stigma associated with STIs can prevent parents from getting their kids vaccinated, and might prevent men from getting vaccinated if it is made routine in the future.
So what can be done to increase uptake in girls and women, as well as to encourage vaccination in boys and men if the benefits lead to routine immunization of them also?
Dr. Joel Palefsky, one of the lead authors of the new study of HPV vaccination in men and boys, believes that the key is education. "People need to better understand the connection between HPV and the diseases that we're trying to prevent," he said. "Obviously, many people have tried to do that [educate], but I think it's still a black box to many people."
Rhonda Dyar, the nurse manager of Hart County's health department, agrees. "Its important to educate them [patients] on the risks of not getting vaccinated, use details and encourage it prior to sexual activity," she said. False information is a problem she notices when parents do refuse the vaccination for their children.
The possibilities of this vaccine are expanding; in the future it could be used as a preventative for several diseases, especially if uptake in females increases or both sexes routinely get vaccinated. None of those possibilities will come to fruition, however, if education and understanding of the link between the vaccine and disease don't increase.
