Growing Up in the Age of the HPV Vaccine When patients ask me if their daughters should get the HPV vaccine, I commend them. Most parents would rather not think about their child’s sexuality- understandably. But those who are asking these questions are on the right track. The HPV vaccine is the first vaccine known to prevent a cancer. It’s relatively new, so many of my patients have questions about whether to give their children the vaccine. Doctors have long known that cancer of the cervix was more common among women who were sexually active, but they didn’t know why. Eventually, scientists discovered that cervical cancer was being triggered by a virus – the human papillomavirus (HPV). Doctors then began testing patients for HPV during annual pap smear check-ups – because cervical cancer is highly treatable if caught early and potentially fatal if not. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus. A New Jersey university study found that about 26 percent of women leaving high school were HPV-positive, but that number increased to 60 percent for women graduating college. HPV is the leading cause of genital warts and cervical cancer, which was once the most common cause of death for women in the United States. Cervical cancer is still a serious concern today, especially for women of color. The American Cancer Society predicts that there will be more than 11,000 new cases of cervical cancer this year. Latinas have the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute, and experts say Latinas and African American women are twice as likely to die from cervical cancer as white women. Cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans, and cervical cancer rates are highest among Vietnamese American women. Factors that cause these trends include lack of health insurance, language barriers and limited information on the prevention of HPV. The key to reversing these trends is getting regular pap smear tests to detect the presence of HPV as early as possible – and now the vaccine that can prevent women from contracting HPV in the first place. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the HPV vaccine last year. The vaccine protects 90 percent of women against four types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Doctors recommend that girls 11 to 12 years old get the vaccine, a series of three shots taken over six months, and it’s also been approved for women up to age 26 if they didn’t get the shots when they were younger. This vaccine gives your daughter the opportunity to prevent cervical cancer. Some parents worry that giving their child the vaccine condones or promotes sexual activity. Maybe your daughter will never be exposed to the virus. But if she is, and she’s had the vaccine, she’ll be better protected against cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is preventable and curable if detected early, but can be fatal if undetected. We have our children vaccinated against many viruses, such as chicken pox, measles and other sexually transmitted viruses like hepatitis C. Vaccines give us immunity against the causes of the disease. So ask your doctor about the HPV vaccine.

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