photo taken from biojobblog.com

The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a very frequent sexually transmitted illness that concerns millions of people around the world. Most kinds of genital HPV cause no indications. However, there are a few genital HPVs which may lead to cancer of the anus, penis, cervix, vulva, and vagina. Most of these types usually bypass the system without doing any damage, but there are high risk types that can cause cancer.

Luckily, there are vaccines that thwarts off HPV, saving hundreds of lives. However, the vaccine is most efficient when given to girls prior to sexual activity at ages as early as 9 to 12 years. While most people concur that vaccinating the youth against HPV is a vital step in shielding them from cancer, conservatives claimed that this will open doors for young people to engage sex.

HPV is extended via skin-to-skin contact, and a hundred types of HPV, forty of these types can affect the reproductive organs. About 20 million people in the US are infected with genital HPV at present. In truth, it’s so frequent that about half of the sexually active people have genital HPV infection at some point.

Cervical cancer alone hits half a million women and claims an annual of 270,000, making it the third-leading cancer killer among women, following breast and lung cancer.

As of late the drug company Merck made a major sexual breakthrough developing the vaccine, Gardasil that is virtually 100% successful against HPV 16 and 18, the two types of HPV responsible for 70% of cervical cancers. It is also successful against two types of HPV that cause genital warts. GlaxoSmithKline has produced a vaccine that isn’t on the market yet. However, the vaccine can protect against the same two high-risk types of HPV.