HPV

HPV

The HPV Vaccine and Its Controversies

Genital Human Papillomavirus is a common virus that is passed through genital contact, most often during sexual intercourse. Many sexually active people will contract HPV at some time in their lives, though most will never know it. There are about forty different types of HPV that affect the genital areas of men and women. Many cause no signs or symptoms and clear on their own, while others may lead to genital cancers and genital warts.
The HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is geared towards preventing different forms of HPV like Type 16 and 18 that can lead to cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancer and Type 6 and 11 that can lead to condyloma acuminata.   All of the different types of HPV can lead to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, cervical adenocarcinoma, vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia, and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia. Some of the common side effects of administration are headache, fever, nausea, injection site pain, puritis and bruising. It is also been shown that syncope is common after injection as well as incidences of anaphylaxis due to the vaccine containing yeast. Some of the lesser known complications that occurred during testing are pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, pancreatic cancer, hyperthyroidism, acute renal failure, and systemic lupus erythematosus.#
The vaccine was 100% effective in preventing two strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer in clinical trials and 99% effecting against two HPV strains that cause genital warts. With such an impressive resume, how can the HPV vaccine be so controversial?
Most of the controversy seems to revolve around the idea that some people don't like the idea of their child being "forced" to get a "new" vaccine that protects against an STD, especially since they don't believe that their child is going to be sexually active. The controversy over receiving Gardasil is especially loud in the areas of immigration, cost and the false sense of security that the...