Doctors endorse vaccine preventing cervical cancer

The human papillomavirus is considered one of the scariest sexually transmitted diseases by the medical community.

About 6.2 million people contract HPV each year in the U.S., but most never know it because their bodies clear the virus without showing symptoms. That means they unknowingly spread HPV, the only cause of cervical cancer and the leading cause of genital warts.

Condoms do not protect against HPV infection. Once you have it, it's there for life, even if the virus is dormant, said Dr. Richard Boothby, a gynecological oncologist in Bonita Springs.

That's why several area doctors were ready to reach for their prescription pads last week when the Food and Drug Administration licensed Gardasil, a vaccine that was almost 100 percent effective in studies at preventing HPV infection in women.

"Think about it — a vaccine that can prevent cancer. It's unheard of. It's unprecedented," said Dr. Richard Murray, a gynecologist in Fort Myers and past president of the Lee County Medical Society.

Local doctors say they plan to push the vaccine to patients and their children.

"We could wipe out cervical cancer in the next few generations," said Boothby, with the Florida Gynecologist Oncology group.

Gardasil is distributed in three injections over a six-month period to protect against strains 6, 11, 16 and 18 of HPV. Strains 16 and 18 lead to cervical cancer, and strains 6 and 11 cause 90 percent of genital warts, according to the FDA.

"I certainly will talk to my patients about their children and encourage them to have their children get vaccinated," Boothby said.

Gardasil was licensed for females ages 9 to 26, but it is likely the drug will target a young age group, such as girls from 10 to 12 years, said Dr. Anna Giuliano, an epidemiologist who was the lead investigator of the vaccine.

"Like any other prevention vaccine, you want to vaccinate before they're ever exposed to the virus," said Giuliano, the program leader of the Tampa-based H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute's Risk Assessment, Detection and Intervention Program.

That means targeting adolescent girls before they become sexually active, she said. The key to opening parents' minds is reminding them it is the only vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer, she said.

"Do you explain to your kids what tetanus is and why they need vaccinated? Do you have a lengthy conversation with you child every time they need a vaccine?" she said. "I'm not sure that it has to be this complicated."

Some critics of the vaccine say it will encourage children to have sex. Giuliano, who has a young son, disagrees.

So does Dr. John Distasio, a pediatrician with Lee Physicians Group Pediatrics in Fort Myers.

"I would be amazed if more than a handful of people do not get this vaccine. How could you not get a vaccine that prevents getting cervical cancer for a lifetime?" he said.

Many of Boothby's patients have had cervical cancer and are likely to want to prevent their daughters from experiencing the pain that comes with it, he predicted.

About 9,700 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and there are about 3,700 deaths. It is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, according to the FDA, with 233,000 deaths each year.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the Centers for Disease Control and prevention will make a recommendation June 29 for the target age group, Giuliano said. A policy then will be developed to distribute the vaccine with the maximum benefit at the minimum cost, she said.

The vaccine will be available for purchase by the end of June for $120 a dose, she said.

Gardasil showed some promise of helping females in the older age group, but it was not as effective, she said. That means all women, including those who are vaccinated, need to continue their yearly pap smears, she said.

"There are other strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer," she said.

Moffitt has also begun testing the vaccine's effectiveness in young men, she said. Men cannot contract cervical cancer, but they can infect a woman with HPV, she said. Men can also get genital warts.

Gardasil is manufactured by New Jersey-based Merck & Co., Inc.