Little girls might be vaccinated by a new vaccine ‘Gardasil’, discovered by an Australian doctor, against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in U.S.
According to a recent study, cervical cancer is diagnosed in almost 500,000 women worldwide, out of which 250,000 die due to this fatal disease.
The reasons behind cervical cancer dodged doctors over a number of years, as the exact reason of the disease was not found; however, a recent study showed that this type of cancer is caused due to a chronic infection occurring because of ‘Human Papilpomavirus’ commonly known as HPV. HPV, which has more than 100 types, is the most common sexually transmitted disease.
Gardasil protects against 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. This vaccine will be helpful in treating cervical cancer. This vaccine starts the development of antibodies which helps in immunization and consequently protecting the body from cancer.
Gardasil is suggested for women of ages 9 to 26. There have not been any significant side effects witnessed with the use of Gardasil vaccine. Most commonly seen side effects included swelling, itching, redness or irritation at the site of vaccine administration.
Cervical cancer can be prevented with regular pap smear test, but it is not perfect solution. Most of the women who get cervical cancer haven’t had the test done in at least three years.
The choice to vaccinate little girls is little bit controversial. Some critics say important questions have been ignored, such as how effective is the vaccine in the youngest girls and how long will immunity last?
One problem in vaccination is it costs 360 U.S. dollars, without markup and administration fees. If every sixth grade girl in the United States were vaccinated, (there are about 2 million) it would cost 720 million dollars.
The vaccine promises to be highly effective at preventing cervical cancer. That’s one milestone in health care, to be able to eliminate a cancer by way of a vaccine.
Via : SUN.com