Would You Vaccinate Your Daughter Against VD?

Texas governor just passed a law saying all girls entering 6th grade have to be vaccinated. Of course, Texans are saying.... yeah, you guessed it, educate about abstinance.

Texas is now the tenth state to require vaccination, but the news is reporting that a higher up at Merck now was previously in a position close to the governor in Texas government.

But, ten states now have laws. That's progress, no?

Great, educate about abstinance but protect against stds.

I hate the educate about abstinance but don't give any other options. We all know how teens are (we were all teens once). Tomorrow is so far away. Consequences are not real. And we are completely immune to everything.

If they are going to do it, they are going to do it. Let's at least teach them how to be safe about it and protect them from others who might not have been taught about how to be safe about it.

but she's soooooo hot...

I would feel positive about vaccinating my children and grandchi8ldren against STD's and of course would do it.... but I'm not so hot on the government forcing me to.

The problem with not making people do it is the group who don't see the benefits and don't allow their daughters to get the vac. Then who suffers?

I don't like being told what to do either but it's a tough call imo.

absolutely.

So, why does it have to be administered at the 6th grade? Can't it be administered earlier like the other vaccines?

I dunno. But, in middle school in NC they give a free in school tetanus booster, so it could be done at that time.

To the best of my knowledge, the same is true of humans as in other animals - the younger the patient at the time of vaccination, the shorter the duration of immunity. Papilloma virus vaccines have been around for decades. In most critters, there are a fairly wide array of strains that cause warts, but very few actually become malignancies. In calves and foals, the virus usually infects the patient at a little under a year of age, with immunity resulting in the shedding of the warts in around ninety days. I have been able to speed up that process on occasion by soaking macerated warts in saline, passing the solution through filter paper, and adding a few drops of formalin to produce a killed vaccine that has been relatively effective. This tends to work in calves and foals fairly well. The glaring exception is probably transmissible venereal tumors of dogs, but I don't know how closely related to the human papilloma virus that one is.
Back to the original question: at this point, I doubt if anyone knows the relationship between the age of the girl and the duration of immunity. Sixth grade is more than likely somebody's best guess.

UCSF doctors warn on wide use of cervical cancer vaccine
They urge caution while clinical trials are still under way
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Nearly a year after a controversial cervical cancer vaccine won federal approval and hit the market to a whirlwind of interest from doctors and parents, at least two UCSF physicians are warning against widespread use of the drug until much more extensive studies are complete.

In an editorial published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, the UCSF doctors suggest that there are still too many questions about both the efficacy and the long-term safety of the vaccine, called Gardasil, to warrant making it mandatory for all girls -- as has been suggested in several states, including California.

"At this stage, vaccination can still be considered experimental," said Dr. Karen McCune, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCSF, who co-authored the editorial. "To be discussing mandatory vaccination when the main clinical trials are still ongoing seems extremely premature. We're feeling like the enthusiasm is driving policy rather than data."

The cervical cancer vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2006 and became widely available last fall. The vaccine is designed to prevent infection from the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer. The same virus also increases the risk of developing other cancers -- including throat cancer, according to a study also released today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The vaccine, to be most effective, should be given to girls before they have sex and may be exposed to the virus that causes cancer. Researchers are hoping that the vaccine also may prove effective at preventing other cancers, although there have yet to be any thorough studies addressing the possibility.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer among women worldwide and the third-most fatal, causing 290,000 deaths a year. The disease is rare in the United States, where regular screening for adult women catches most precancerous cases; about 3,700 American women die of cervical cancer every year.

Shortly after the vaccine won FDA approval, a federal advisory panel recommended that all 11- and 12-year-old girls be vaccinated. Since then, several states have considered proposals making vaccination mandatory for girls.

A bill in the California Legislature requiring vaccination stalled in committee in March over concerns about parental rights and the lack of information about the long-term effects of the vaccine. The author has amended his bill to address the wider issue of how California requires vaccinations. In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry backed off this week from orders to force all sixth-grade girls in the state to be vaccinated.

In clinical trials, the vaccine has proved very effective at preventing infection from two strains of HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. Researchers released new data today -- also published in the New England Journal of Medicine -- based on a study of 15,000 women, that showed the vaccine was about 98 percent effective in preventing infection of the two HPV strains.

"Certainly, (the published data) should give the lay public and the professional groups proof that this vaccine is very effective," said Dr. Kevin Ault, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine and one of the study's authors.

But the primary concerns of doctors like McCune are that long-term side effects of the vaccine are unknown -- the most recent study followed women for three years -- and that earlier research hasn't considered what effect the vaccine has on the remaining 13 strains of HPV that also cause cervical cancer.

It's possible, McCune said, that the remaining strains may fill a "niche" left if the two most common strains are wiped out entirely. If that happens, the vaccine might not make any difference on overall cervical cancer rates, she said.

But while many doctors agree that there are still questions about the vaccine, they note that there is no question that Gardasil is effective at stopping the most common cancer-causing HPV strains. And because the vaccine is most effective before a woman has had sex, it's important that girls get vaccinated as soon as possible, even if some doubts remain, some doctors say.

E-mail Erin Allday at [email protected].

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/10/MNGAMPO48N1.DTL

Risk Factor: Throat cancer linked to virus spread by sex

Cancer of the throat and tonsils can arise from infection with a sexually transmitted virus, a new study suggests.

Researchers report that the human papillomavirus (HPV) is much more likely to turn up in the throat cells of people with a malignancy called oropharyngeal cancer than in the throat cells of others. Moreover, the cancer patients were more apt to have engaged in oral sex with multiple partners over past years, suggesting a route of infection, the scientists report in the May 10 New England Journal of Medicine.

HPV infections, which often produce no immediate symptom, were already known to cause cervical cancer. The virus produces localized infections. "It doesn't spread through the bloodstream," says oncologist Maura L. Gillison of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Therefore, an HPV infection acquired through sexual intercourse affects only the genital region, she says, and oral sex may expose the throat and tonsils to a similar viral infection and cancer.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070512/fob1.asp

EDIT: I had said my son was to be vaccinated that is not the case. He was vaccinated (booster shots) against diptheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). The girls in his school were vaccinated against the same and HPV at the same time.

Some information is available here but applicable to Australia only

http://www.health.gov.au/cervicalcancer

and

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/standby/publishing.nsf/Content/parents-1

Parents of boys should scroll to the last paragraph which says

I had a pediatrician come talk to the community last night about the immunization. She had some amazing statistics. It is actually recommended that girls be immunized between 11 and 14 because statistics show that 50% are "active" by 14.

She also said that they are working on an immunization for boys, since they too can get cancer from HPV. It is still in trials, but should be on the market in a couple of years.

i could not understand that why premartial sex is wrong .. sex is a part of human life it is not a rule that sex should be shared between husband and wife only .sex is a desire its should be enjoyed at the right time like we eat food at time of hunger ..if we abstain fron sex we meet unwanted problems.

I certainly hope you are not trying to teach that to Squinney. I would laugh too hard.

Pass me a banana.

Yes.

Not everyone who's exposed to STI is exposed from consensual sex.