March 1, 2016 – Why Not?

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Anchor lead: There’s now proof the HPV vaccine prevents precancerous lesions, Elizabeth Tracey reports

HPV vaccination has reduced the rate of HPV infections in young women who have received the vaccine by about 65%, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.  Maria Trent, an adolescent medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, says now parents have no reason not to vaccinate.

Trent: There are two reasons why I think people resist the HPV vaccine. First, it’s usually a sexually transmitted infection.  The second reason is that they think the child is too young.  But what we know is that HPV infections occur, quite often, right around the time that people become sexually active.  That infection may not manifest itself right away, because some people clear the infection, and then others it sort of just lingers on, and in those individuals, they can develop cervical lesions that then over time can lead to cancer.   :32

Trent reminds parents that boys too should receive the HPV vaccine.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.