Calls for teenage boys to also receive HPV vaccine against sexually transmitted virus

Feb 4, 2012
Health, Safety & Testing
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The HPV vaccine should be given to all males between the ages of 11 and 21 to protect them against sexually transmitted diseases and cancers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said in its 2012 report.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends the human papillomavirus vaccine should be ‘routine’ for all boys and it also recommends ‘catch-up’ vaccinations for males ages 13 to 21.

Since 2008 all girls aged 12 to 13 in the UK have been offered a vaccination to protect them from HPV. The decision not to give it to boys too was heavily criticised at the time.

Specialists are also urging the Department of Health to review its immunisation programme and offer boys the vaccine too, the Independent reports.

They say this would not only ensure both sexes are protected against throat cancer, but it would help reduce the risk of cervical cancer in girls and of other cancers caused by HPV.

Last October, the committee first recommended the vaccine for boys, HealthPop reported, but the recommendations weren’t formalized until they were published this week, according to the CDC.

CDC epidemiologist Dr. Eileen Dunne told the New York Times that new data over the past two years showed the vaccine was ‘very effective’ in preventing genital warts in men and women, as well as some cancers.

Some infections lead to warts, cervical cancer and other cancers, including of the head and neck.

A recent study found that 16 million Americans between the ages of 14 to 69 have HPV in their mouths or throat, but most were found not to have the kind most strongly linked to cancer, according to HealthPop.

The HPV vaccine has been recommended for girls since 2006, but only 49 percent of adolescent girls have gotten at least one of the three HPV shots, according to recent estimates.
Boys must be immunised against the most common sexually transmitted virus, health experts have said.

The call comes after figures revealed an alarming rise in cancer linked to oral sex in young men.

Cases of throat cancer have more than doubled to more than 1,000 a year since the mid-1990s. Previously the figure had been stable for many years.

More than 70 per cent of cases are caused by human papilloma virus, compared with less than a third a decade ago.

HPV, which can be transmitted during sex and open-mouth kissing, is the main cause of cervical cancer in women, with almost 3,000 women a year in the UK affected.


Since 2008 all girls aged 12 to 13 in the UK have been offered a vaccination to protect them from HPV. The decision not to give it to boys too was heavily criticised at the time.

Now specialists are urging the Department of Health to review its immunisation programme and offer boys the vaccine too, the Independent reports.

They say this would not only ensure both sexes are protected against throat cancer, but it would help reduce the risk of cervical cancer in girls and of other cancers caused by HPV.

Research suggests boys are more prone to get throat cancer from oral sex because the virus is found in higher concentrations in the female genital tract.

Cancer typically takes 20 to 30 years to develop and the rise in HPV-related throat cancer is being seen as the legacy of the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s.

The typical victim has also changed from older patients in lower socio-economic groups who smoked to those who are younger and middle class.

Experts say oral sex is seen by teenagers as safer than sexual intercourse as carrying no risk of pregnancy or infections.

But many argued that giving it to boys would reduce the prevalence of the infection by increasing ‘herd’ immunity, offer added protection to girls, and prevent genital warts and anal cancer in both sexes.

Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was last year a vocal opponent of the vaccine. She claimed at a campaign event that the vaccination against the HPV virus ‘ravages’ girls.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096351/Calls-teenage-boys-vaccinated-sexually-transmitted-virus-alarming-rise-throat-cancer.html#ixzz1lSy9QZyU

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