For those not following vaccine news, there is an infection called HPV, which stands for Human Papilloma Virus.   The HPV vaccine is recommended for kids in middle childhood and prevents infection with strains of this virus known to cause cancer.

The CDC reported in May that this vaccine is working very, very well.

Looking at kids 3 years prior to the HPV being available, about 11.5% of 14-19 year old girls had HPV!   After the vaccine became available only 1.1 % of girls ages 14-19 were infected!  A similar trend is seen in boys.  This is a dramatic drop in the number of kids infected, saving millions of people the harm of HPV infections.

The HPV causes warts, and the strains in the vaccine cause genital warts and stimulate cancer, mainly of the cervix in females and of the throat and penis in boys.

HPV is by far the vastly most common STD, before the vaccine, the number infected which is about 10% by age 19, balloons up to 60-75% in adulthood.  This left enough people infected that many died of the HPV-induced cancers.

Now it looks like our children will not have to worry about that.

BOTTOM LINES

1. HPV is the Human Papilloma Virus, and causes all human warts.  Some strains infect the genital area, and it is these strains that cause cancer.
2. Immunizing your child with HPV Vaccine is now proven to nearly eliminate HPV infection by age 19.
3. And in so doing, it will drop the chance of our children developing cancer of the cervix, penis, and throat.

To your health,
Dr. Arthur Lavin