(onlinedatingmagazine.com - June 29, 2006) A new HPV vaccine is getting a lot of attention for its ability to prevent certain types of HPV in younger women who do not yet have the virus.

This week, The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), voted to recommend that the new HPV vaccine, designed to protect against four types of the human papillomavirus virus (HPV), be routinely given to girls when they are 11-12 years old. The ACIP recommendation also allows for vaccination of girls beginning at nine years old as well as vaccination of girls and women 13-26 years old. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer in women.

Earlier this month, the HPV vaccine, called Gardasil, was approved by the FDA as "the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer, precancerous genital lesions and genital warts due to human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16 and 18." The vaccine has only been approved for use in women between the ages of 9-26 years.

"This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women's health in that it strikes at the infections that are the root cause of many cervical cancers," says Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs. "The development of this vaccine is a product of extraordinary work by scientists as well as by FDA's review teams to help facilitate the development of very novel vaccines to address unmet medical needs. This work has resulted in the approval of a number of new products recently, including Gardasil, which address significant public health needs."

When the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, was announced, Alex Azar, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was quick to comment:

"Today is an important day for public health and for women's health, and for our continued fight against serious life-threatening diseases like cervical cancer," says Azar. "HHS is committed to advancing critical health measures such as the development of new and promising vaccines to protect and advance the health of all Americans."

According to the ACIP’s recommendation, three doses of the new vaccine should be routinely given to girls when they are 11 or 12 years old. The advisory committee, however, noted that the vaccination series can be started as early as nine years old at the discretion of the physician or health care provider. The recommendation also includes girls and women 13-26 years old because they will benefit from getting the vaccine. The vaccine should be administered before onset of sexual activity (i.e., before women are exposed to the viruses), but females who are sexually active should still be vaccinated.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 6.2 million Americans become infected with genital HPV each year and that over half of all sexually active men and women become infected at some time in their lives.

“This vaccine represents an important medical breakthrough,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “As a result, these vaccine recommendations address a major health problem for women and represent a significant advance in women’s health. It has been tested in thousands of women around the world and has been found to be safe and effective in providing protection against the two types of HPV that cause most cervical cancers.”

On average, there are 9,710 new cases of cervical cancer and 3,700 deaths attributed to it in the United States each year. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women; and is estimated to cause over 470,000 new cases and 233,000 deaths each year.

For most women, the body's own defense system will clear the virus and infected women do not develop related health problems. However, some HPV types can cause abnormal cells on the lining of the cervix that years later can turn into cancer. Other HPV types can cause genital warts.

The HPV vaccine is effective against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers and against HPV types 6 and 11, which cause approximately 90 percent of genital warts.