new horror: cervical cancer vaccine

[Chua Ching Yee]

According to the Los Angeles Times, reported in The Straits Times, Singapore
8 Oct 2005:

AN EXPERIMENTAL vaccine against cervical cancer has cleared its final
clinical hurdle.
In a large trial of more than 12,000 women, it has proven to be 100%
effective in blocking the major forms of the disease, its manufacturer said
on Thursday.
Merck Inc said it will seek Food and Drug Administration approval for
the vaccine, called Gardasil, later this year and could begin marketing it
in 2006. The vaccine immunises against the human papilloma virus, or HPV,
which is the primary cause of cervical cancer.
If approved, the vacdne would most likely be administered to children
aged 12 or younger - before they become sexually active - including boys,
who can be carriers of the virus.
The vaccine protects against a virus that has already infected 20
million Americans and blocks a cancer that kills 3,900 American women each
year. There is no treatment for HPV infection currently.
Death rates are low in tfae United States because of widespread Pap
screening, but woridwide, cervical cancer is the second-leading cause of
cancer death in women, killing an estimated 250,000 each year.
"This is a tremendous breakthrough," said Dr David Fishanan, a
gynaecologic cancer specialist at the New York University School of
Medicine.
"This is needed globally to reduce the high incidence of cervical
cancer."