vaccine blocks cervical cancer?

[topaz]

A preliminary study has found that a new vaccine is 100% effective at blocking cervical cancer.

edit: I neglected to credit the always-alert opadit for pointing me at this.

Comments

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

WOW.

Thanks for sharing this! It's nice to read some good news for a change!

[fj.livejournal.com]

Men need to be vaccinated with this too. We get pre-cancerous HPV lesions in our colons that can develop into colo-rectal cancer.

[stephe.livejournal.com]

That's cool, but I'm going to make a cynical prediction: someone, somewhere in the current federal government will try to block development and distribution of this drug because it will, in their view, encourage promiscuity by removing one of the "punishments" for sex.

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

No doubt...hopefully, there will be enough really cynical doctors willing to play the system against itself and declare those women to be at risk of colo-rectal cancer. (Think how there was suddenly an epidemic of menstrual irregularities in heavily Catholic countries after the Pill came on the market.)

[harimad.livejournal.com]

"Thunderstruck" is how I felt, too. Method-effectiveness of 100% after two years, use-effectiveness of 97% for the #2 cancer killer among women. And it reduces genital warts. Any word on how much it'll cost?

Persons whose mothers took DES when pregnant with them are also at increased risk for cervical or testicular cancer.

I predict objections will be based on the "questionable safety" of genetically engineered vaccines. The way to overcome the objections is to trumpet how many men's lives the vaccine will save, before the genetic engineering becomes a problem.

Cynically yours,
Harimad

[harimad.livejournal.com]

increased risk for cervical or testicular cancer.

Should've pointed out: generally one or the other but not both.

[beah.livejournal.com]

This is *awesome* news. Here's hoping it doesn't have nasty side effects like, you know, causing children to be born with 2 heads, or the dreaded "anal leakage."

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

Just to nit-pick (not so much you as the report), it proved 100% effective against cervical cancers caused by HPV 16 and 18, which cause 70% of all cervical cancer (according to the article). That means it was less than 100% effective at blocking all cervical cancer. (They didn't say whether it had any impact on non-HPV-16/18 cancers at all, only that such cancers did occur in vaccinated women.)

Not complaining, still good news, but that 100% number seems misleading to me.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

only that such cancers did occur in vaccinated women

Er...I mean "dangerous pre-cancerous lesions" did occur in vaccinated women.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Yep, I was going to say the same thing.

(Still! sign me up!)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely correct, and I admit I didn't read the article nearly as closely as I should have this morning. And of course I agree it's very good news anyway. :-)

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

that's rocking news, but isn't a few years old? I seem to remember being really fucking happy that my daughter would not have to worry about that bit of nastiness, and in that memory, the daughter I was happy for was a figment of my imagination, not the living, breathing creepy crawlie I have sleeping upstairs.

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

in the same place that I heard that preliminary news, I also recall hearing that early trials of a herpes vaccine were getting rock star results, but only in women.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Only in women who were negative for both HSV1 and HSV2. And, of course, you can't get into a study on it (I tried; was dinged for being too old), and there's no indication of when an HSV vaccine might be available to the general public. :(