The case for vaccinating kids against human papilloma virus has received an enormous boost (鈥減apilloma鈥� is the medical term for 鈥渨art鈥�).
HPV primarily infects the genital region, though it can also appear in the mouth and throat. It causes a number of nasty conditions, warts among them.
But it is also associated with cervical cancer in women, and oral cancer in both sexes. That was already known; it is the primary reason why school children at Grade 6 are now offered free vaccination in sa国际传媒 (This age group was chosen because other vaccinations and booster shots are commonly given then.)
However, a massive new study out of the University of Laval, published last month in the medical journal The Lancet, is a potential game changer.
The researchers examined more than 60 studies in 14 high-income countries. What they found is that HPV vaccination reduced the onset of cervical cancer by 51聽per cent in young women. That in itself is a near-unanswerable case for vaccination.
Cervical cancer, unlike many other tumours, is primarily a disease of the earlier years. The average age of onset is between 35 and 44, meaning far more years of life are at risk than is the case, for example, with prostate or breast cancer.
And the five-year survival rate, overall, is only 66 per cent 鈥� not an especially good outlook. A woman鈥檚 chances are much better if the disease is caught early. In that case, her five-year survival rate is 92 per cent. This is a powerful argument for annual Pap smear tests.
However, if it has progressed throughout the body, the odds of recovering fall to 17 per cent.
But here is the point of the Laval study. If vaccination could be expanded to, say, 85 per cent of Grade 6 kids, it might be possible to wipe out HPV-caused cervical cancer entirely.
And this form of the disease, which makes up 70 of all cervical cancers, kills 280 Canadian women a year.
That would be a huge step forward, on a par with the extermination of smallpox by vaccination.
Unfortunately, we have some way to go. Across the province, the current take-up rate is 67 per cent for girls, and 65 per cent for boys. Scores on Vancouver Island are about seven points lower.
By way of comparison, the rate for all other vaccinations combined is 74 per cent.
Part of the problem is reluctance among some parents to have children as young as 11 introduced to a subject they feel is inappropriate for kids that age. There is also the fear that youngsters are being prompted to experiment with sex.
Both those fears are groundless. Since HPV vaccination was introduced in sa国际传媒, teenage sexual activity has actually declined, as has the rate of teenage pregnancy.
This is not cause and effect. Teenage sexuality rates have been falling for years.
Nevertheless, there is no evidence whatsoever that this form of inoculation steers kids in the wrong direction.
Then again, what emerging teenager wants warts in unmentionable places? This should be a no-brainer.
So how do we increase the vaccination uptake? One option is to encourage schools to lend their weight. They already teach sex education. Add a unit on the importance of HPV vaccination.
More importantly, Health Minister Adrian Dix has announced that beginning this fall, parents will be required to inform the local public health unit of their children鈥檚 vaccination record. The recent measles outbreak prompted that move, but HPV inoculation falls under this policy.
Parents whose children have not been vaccinated will have to attend an information session that explains the science behind vaccination, and, hopefully, relieves any fears they may have.
To what degree these new measures will increase HPV vaccination rates remains to be seen. But the message to parents is clear: There is no risk to children in protecting them against this potentially deadly malady, physical or psychological. There are, however, serious health risks in leaving them unprotected, both to the kids themselves, but also to the broader community.
HPV will only survive if it can find enough vulnerable targets. Remove the targets, and you kill the disease.
