HPV Vaccine Recommended For Boys

necro81 writes "An advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon issue new recommendations that pre-adolescent boys be vaccinated against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The disease is sexually transmitted, endemic in the sexually active, can cause genital warts in both men and women, and is the primary cause of cervical cancer, which kills hundreds of thousands of women globally each year. The three-dose vaccination has been available for several years and is already recommended for pre-adolescent girls. Vaccinating boys should further reduce transmission."

Good

[geekoid]

This is no surprise, but I am glad it's been approved. Once again science making the world safer.

Science isn't about asking "why?", it's about asking "why not?". Cave Johnson, I'm done here.

Get rid of the celebrities...

[HockeyPuck]

If we had celebrities coming out and saying "I think the vaccine could have more side effects than the disease..."

We'd still have polio...

measles...
mumps..
Rubella...
Tuberculosis
Whooping Cough...

and a bunch of other nasty diseases flying around like the common cold. I think many parents (atleast around here in Northern California, think you need 200 years of concrete data, or Oprah to claim a vaccine is needed).

Re:Get rid of the celebrities...

[tool462]

And thanks in part to the anti-vaccination folks, some of those are making a bit of a comeback. Whooping cough and measles are the ones our pediatrician mentioned.

Re:Vaccinating carriers...

[Hatta]

You don't have to be a doctor to read and understand the literature. In fact, it helps. By and large med students don't care about anything not on the test, and doctors get most of their continuing education from pharmaceutical companies. Anyone with college level chemistry and biology, and an actual interest in science, is better prepared to interpret the literature than most doctors are.

What would actually improve the post a lot is a link to a peer reviewed article.

Re:Recommendation vs mandate

[fwice]

HPV is 100% avoidable... it's like herpes... it isn't something that just happens.

HPV and HSV are 100% avoidable if you abstain from physical contact with others. Not just sexual contact, _all_ contact. HSV has been transferred from parents to children by kissing. You can acquire it just by making out with someone, which I assume most people would refer to as a "safer" activity.

In addition to transfer via fluid, HPV can be active under the fingernails. If an infected person with an active outbreak touches you where you have broken skin (or digitally penetrates you without a barrier) you can be infected. Essentially, skin-to-skin transfer with an infected person _can_ give you HPV. Touching, mutual masturbation, frotting, making out.

Then, of course, you have things like this [nytimes.com], where children are being infected out of no cause of their own.

Or the fact that you can do everything right (and have "safe" sex, using condoms and dental damns and finger cots and not-brushing-your-teeth-before-oral-sex and discussing histories with your partner, and still get infected, because many people can carry these infections without having an outbreak or being aware that they are a carrier.

your ignorance is rampant, you're turning this into The Scarlet Letter for the present time.

Re:HEY!

[bcmm]

It's pretty clear that Guarasil kills people,

No it isn't, and your source kind of sucks.

"I know it was the Gardasil," Tarsell said, although the official cause of death was undetermined.

This reads like the autism fraud news stories.

Here is the CDC's page on the whole issue. [cdc.gov] Excerpt (my emphasis):

Concerns have been raised about reports of deaths occurring in individuals after receiving Gardasil. As of June 30, 2008, 20 deaths had been reported to VAERS. There was not a common pattern to the deaths that would suggest they were caused by the vaccine. In cases where autopsy, death certificate and medical records were available, the cause of death was explained by factors other than the vaccine.

People get vaccinated and die. People brush their teeth and die too. Statistics.

Herd Immunity

[Dr. Manhattan]

Here, hip yourself about herd immunity [wikimedia.org].

Not everyone will be vaccinated, and not everyone who does get vaccinated will develop immunity. But if enough people are vaccinated, then the disease can't reach enough susceptibles to spread and even the people who aren't immune are protected, too.

There's a kid in my son's first grade class with a liver transplant, and is hence on immunosupressive drugs. Vaccinating my kids helps protect that kid's life. Same principle with all vaccines.

Re:swingers?

[afidel]

Thanks for the information, seems awfully expensive. In fact Merck only spent $250M on research of HPV but sold $365M in vaccine in the first quarter after introduction. It's the most expensive vaccine in the world, and for something which frankly isn't anywhere near the top of the deadly transmittable diseases. I think I'd rather give the $510 to an organization that will distribute the new Malaria vaccine where I know it will actually save many lives and also help to reduce world population growth.