HPV Vaccine - A New Direction in Cancer Prevention
An Interview with Christina Chu, MD
Recently, new HPV vaccines have been developed
by Merck (Gardasil) and Glaxo Smith Kline (Cervarix). OncoLink® sits
down with Christina
Chu, MD, Assistant Professor in the Division
of Gynecologic Oncology at the Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania, to get the facts
on this new development.
The
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is one of the
most common sexually transmitted infections
(STI) in the world, with an estimated 5.5 million
people infected annually. Sexually active individuals
have an 80 to 85 percent chance of being infected
at some time in their lives. Although it is
considered a sexually transmitted disease,
it can be spread by skin-to-skin genital contact
without intercourse. It is most prevalent in
women 20 to 24 years of age, and prevalence
decreases with age, dropping significantly
after age 30.
About 20 percent of women infected with HPV
will develop a chronic infection, and of those
about 2 percent will develop cervical
cancer. Researchers have determined that
HPV is found in almost 100 percent of cervical
cancers worldwide.
Read
the complete article and interview with Dr.
Chu...
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