Wednesday, August 23, 2006
New Vaccine for Cervical Cancer Now Available
The obstetricians and gynecologists with Sacred Heart Medical Group are providing a new vaccine that protects women and girls against the virus responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers.
The new vaccine, called Gardasil, is the first vaccine approved for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). It must be given in three separate injections over a six-month period.
The vaccine has been shown to be nearly 100 percent effective against four strains of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which cause most cervical cancers and also genital warts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all females as young as 9-years-old or as old as 26 should get the vaccine. CDC advises that ideally, the vaccine should be given before females have sex for the first time, because almost any sexual encounter carries a risk of HPV infection. While most HPV infections are cleared by the immune system, usually causing no symptoms, some infections persist and cause genital warts, pre-cancerous lesions, and invasive cancers of the cervix.
“There are about 10,000 new cases of cervical cancer each year in the United States, resulting in 3,700 deaths annually,” said Dr. Bill Lile, an Ob/Gyn with Sacred Heart Medical Group. “We hope the new HPV vaccine will help to prevent many of these cancers from occurring.”
Researchers are studying the vaccine’s effect in women over 26 and in men.
Although the vaccine, made by the Merck pharmaceutical company, is new, many insurance companies have begun covering the vaccine for those in the recommended age groups. Sacred Heart Medical Group is providing the vaccine at its Ob/Gyn offices in Pensacola and at the office of Dr. Dina Navarro in Pace. For more information, call 416-2550.
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