This is HUGE for women's health - go Aussies!
From the Melbourne Age newspaper:
Vaccine to cut cancer of cervix
By Carol Nader
Health Reporter
October 8, 2005
A NEW vaccine that doctors believe could prevent 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer could be on the market by next year.
In what is being hailed as one of the most important advances in women's health, Australian researchers have developed the world's first vaccine that prevents four strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), two of which cause the disease that kills almost 300,000 women worldwide each year. The virus is spread through sex.
Ian Hammond, a gynaecological oncologist at Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, said: "The prospect for the future is enormous. It's fantastic." But it would take at least 20 to 30 years to reduce dramatically the circulation of the virus in the community, and the cervical cancer screening program would need to remain in place.
The vaccine, known as Gardasil, was trialled in 12,000 women in 13 countries. The trial compared the vaccine and two booster shots with a course of placebo jabs. None of the women who received the real vaccine developed any of the four HPV strains the trial included during two years of follow-up, and 21 of those who were injected with the dummy vaccine did so.
The vaccine would ideally be given to girls and boys before they are sexually active, but the researchers say young adults who are sexually active may also benefit, particularly if they have never been exposed to HPV.
"This is done by using DNA technology, so we engineer something to look like a virus in the immune system but it just looks like the shell of the virus, which is enough to trick the immune system into thinking that it has seen the real virus, so it makes antibody and protects the person against infection."
Cancer Council Victoria director Professor David Hill said the vaccine would prevent many cases of cervical cancer, but "it doesn't mean that women who are already grown up and have become sexually active can give up their regular pap screens".
Trials are under way in girls aged over 11 and in men. There are about 200 strains of HPV, but only 10 are linked to cervical cancer. Up to 70 per cent of sexually active people will pick up the virus, but most get rid of it without any problems. Fewer than 1 per cent of women who pick up the virus will develop cancer.
THE TOLL
■ There were 735 cervical cancer cases in Australia in 2001, and 227 deaths.
■ About 500,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with it each year and 300,000 die from it.
■ 70 per cent of cancers are caused by HPV types 16 and 18, which are targetted by the vaccine.
■ Cervical cancer deaths have fallen by 58 per cent in the past year.
■ The best form of prevention is pap smears every two years.
New Cervical Cancer Vaccine
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