"A single HPV vaccination appears just as effective as two doses at preventing the viral infection that causes cervical cancer, researchers reported Wednesday. HPV, or human papillomavirus, is very common and spread through sex. Most HPV infections clear up on their own but some linger, causing cancers that appear years later, including cervical cancer in women and rarer cancers in both women and men."
"Led by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the study enrolled more than 20,000 girls between ages 12 and 16. Researchers tested two different HPV vaccines used around the world, giving half the girls one shot type and the rest the other. Then six months later, half of the girls got a second dose of their assigned vaccine while the rest instead received an unrelated child vaccination."
"HPV vaccination has been recommended for U.S. girls since 2006 and already the nation is counting fewer cases of precancerous cervical lesions among women in their 20s - the first age group to start getting the shots back when they were tweens or teens. But cervical cancer kills about 340,000 women worldwide annually and the new findings from a huge study in Costa Rica could help spur global efforts to protect more girls and young women in harder-to-reach low-income countries."
More than 20,000 girls aged 12–16 in Costa Rica participated in a randomized trial testing two widely used HPV vaccines. Participants either received one dose or a second dose at six months (with controls receiving an unrelated child vaccine), and all were followed for five years with regular cervical testing for high-risk HPV strains. A single HPV shot delivered roughly 97% protection against target HPV infections, comparable to two-dose schedules and in comparison with an unvaccinated group. Protection persisted for at least five years, supporting broader use of single-dose strategies to expand protection, especially in low-income settings.
Read at www.bostonherald.com
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