What is the HPV Vaccine

Host: There is a new vaccine HPV vaccine or Gardasil out right now, do you recommend it and what group would you target if you do recommend it?

Guest: That is a very good question, this is a very new topic in adolescent medicine and certainly one that pediatricians are going to be dealing with more and more in the coming years. The HPV vaccine, the company's name is Gardasil is recommended for girls starting at 9 years of age. And yes do I recommend it? Yes and we have started giving Gardasil to all girls starting nine, ten years of age and it is not just for those girls who are sexually active. HPV which stands for Human papillomavirus is a virus that is very common.

In fact, it leads to abnormal pap smears. If a girl has HPV, Human Papillomavirus and she develops an abnormal pap later on in life she could develops a cervical Carcinoma that is cancer of the cervix. This new vaccine has been shown to be very safe and very good in keeping girls from getting HPV and leading to cervical cancer. So it is been marketed as a Cervical Cancer Vaccine. I think as we see more and more young woman getting their HPV vaccine Gardasil, I think we will see a rapid decline in the number of adult women who have Cervical Cancer.

So yes I do think it is important that children get this, children and teenagers get this and you will see this more and more in the coming years.


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