mass vaccination programme for young girls - cervical cancer

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Cervical cancer should soon be a rare disease thanks to a mass vaccination programme for young girls, according to experts.

They say the illness, which is currently the second most common form of cancer among young women, could be virtually eliminated over the next few decades.

Since September 2008, all girls aged 12 and 13 have been offered the cervical jab on the NHS.

Experts say the good uptake of the jab means girls would only need to have a new type of smear test twice in their lifetime to check the vaccine is still working.

In the new test a sample of cells taken from the cervix is checked for the human papilloma virus, which causes 70 per cent of cervical tumours.

It would mark the end of the current unpleasant smear tests that women are advised to take every three years.

Professor Sasieni, a Cancer Research UK scientist of the University of London, urged the government to consider making the HPV test the main method of cervical screening even for women who have not had the jab.

He said: 'HPV testing could prevent an even greater proportion of cervical cancer with just half the number of screens over a lifetime in women who have not had the HPV vaccine.'

The average woman currently undergoes around 12 conventional smears in a lifetime, however Professor Sasieni said this was far more than was now needed.

More than 2,900 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, and just under 1,000 die. Around 80 per cent of sexually-active women will contract HPV at some point in their lives.

However, Professor Sasieni said: ‘With continued high coverage of HPV vaccination and targeting of screening resources at unvaccinated women, cervical cancer should become a truly rare disease.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1328284/Jab-turning-cervical-cancer-rare-disease-spell-end-regular-smear-tests.html

[westiesworld]

Any woman & girls considering having this vaccination should really research the risks associated with it. This vaccine has not been proven safe and should be avoided like the plague.