Health Ministry - HPV Vaccine Injection

HPV vaccine (Routes injection)

Ministery of Health is giving free counselor and injection for female citizen in Malaysia. Any Female in Malaysia aged 13 and above are encourage to get this injection from school and government clinic. As a reminder for the public at Tamparuli and other people in Sabah and Malaysia itself, please get this vacine so that we can prevent this cancer and live a healthy life. " prevention is better than cure "

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25, 2009): The government will provide all 13-year-old girls three doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent crevical cancer from next year onwards.

“The Cabinet has accepted and approved the Health Ministry’s proposal to provide the HPV vaccines, which is 98% effective in preventing cervical cancer for all Form One students,” Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told a press conference today.

Also present was Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, who is also the MCA Wanita chief, chairman of corporate social responsibility committee of the Obstetrical & Gynecological Society Dr R Gunasegaran, and director of Lim Foo Yong Holdings O. B. Lim.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may prevent infection with certain species of human papillomavirus associated with the development of cervical cancer, genital warts, and some less common cancers.Two HPV vaccines are currently on the market: Gardasil and Cervarix.Both vaccines protect against the two HPV types (HPV-16 and HPV-18) that cause 70% of cervical cancers, and cause some other genital cancers; Gardasil also protects against the two HPV types (HPV-6 and HPV-11) that cause 90% of genital warts.In addition, Gardasil has been shown to prevent potential precursors to anal,vulvar,vaginal,and penile cancers. HPV vaccines are expected to protect against HPV induced cancers of these areas as well as HPV induced oral cancers.

Public health officials in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States recommend vaccination of young women against HPV to prevent cervical cancer, and to reduce the number of painful and costly treatments for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, which is caused by HPV.

Worldwide, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in adults.For example, more than 80% of American women will have contracted at least one strain of HPV by age fifty.

Although most women infected with genital HPV will not have complications from the virus,worldwide there are an estimated 470,000 new cases of cervical cancer that result in 233,000 deaths per year.About eighty percent of deaths from cervical cancer occur in poor countries.In the United States, most of the approximately 11,000 cervical cancers found annually. Occur in women who have never had a Pap smear, or not had one in the previous five years. HPV is also the cause of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).CIN is a precursor to cervical cancer, and is painful and costly to treat.It is not known how many women worldwide are diagnosed with CIN.

Since the vaccine only covers some high-risk types of HPV, experts still recommend regular Pap smear screening even after vaccination.

Efficacy

Both Gardasil and Cervarix,have been shown to prevent cervical dysplasia from the HPV strains that they target, that is, types 16, 18, 6, and 11 for Gardasil and types 16 and 18 for Cervarix. This effect has lasted 4 years after vaccination for Gardasil and more than 6 years for Cervarix.As of 2010, it is thought that booster vaccines will not be necessary.

The vaccines also offer some protection against a few high-risk HPV types that are closely related to HPVs 16 and 18. Cervarix has been shown to offer some protection against types (45 and 31), similarly, Gardasil has been shown to offer some protection against type 31, and 9 others.However, there are other high-risk HPV types are not affected by the vaccines.

Safety

Gardasil is a 3-dose (injection) vaccine. As of 1 September 2009 there have been more than 26 million doses distributed in the United States, and there have been 15,037 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports following the vaccination.Ninety-three percent were reports of events considered to be non-serious (e.g., fainting, pain and swelling at the injection site (arm), headache, nausea and fever), and seven percent were considered to be serious (death, permanent disability, life-threatening illness and hospitalization). There is no proven causal link between the vaccine and serious adverse effects; all reports are related by time only. That is, they are only related because the effect happened some time after the vaccination.As of 1 September 2009, there have been 44 U.S. reports of death among females who have received the vaccine.None of the 27 confirmed deaths of women and girls who had taken the vaccine were linked to the vaccine.Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder that causes muscle weakness, has been reported after vaccination with Gardasil. There is no evidence suggesting that Gardasil causes or raises the risk of GBS. Additionally, there have been rare reports of blood clots forming in the heart, lungs and legs.

As of 5 November 2009 the CDC continues to recommend Gardasil vaccination for the prevention of 4 types of HPV. Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, will continue to test women who have received the vaccine to determine the vaccine's efficacy over a lifetime.

History

In work that was initiated in the mid 1980s, the vaccine was developed, in parallel, by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, the University of Rochester, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute.In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first preventive HPV vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. under the trade name Gardasil. According to a Merck press release,in the second quarter of 2007, it had been approved in 80 countries, many under fast-track or expedited review. Early in 2007, GlaxoSmithKline filed for approval in the United States for a similar preventive HPV vaccine, known as Cervarix. In June 2007 this vaccine was licenced in Australia, and it was approved in the European Union in September 2007. Cervarix was approved for use in the U.S. in October 2009.

Story: Tamparuli Admin

Sources: Local Media - Radio Station, Health Ministery of Malaysia and wikipedia

Picture: Google images.