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UF offers vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer

By REBECCA EHLINGER
Alligator Contributing Writer
The first-ever vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease is now available to UF students.

The recent Food and Drug Administration approval of a vaccine called Gardasil could prevent women from contracting the human papillomavirus, or HPV. It also prevents HPV-related cervical cancer and genital warts.

Nearly 30 of the more than 100 different strains of HPV are sexually transmitted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 10 of these 30 sexually transmitted HPV strands can lead to the development of cervical cancer.

"Type 16 is the strain that is most responsible for the largest number of cervical cancer cases," said Phylis Craig, a nurse-practitioner at the UF Student Health Care Center's Women's Clinic.

About 9,700 women in the United States will develop cervical cancer in 2006, according to the American Cancer Society. Cervical cancer will kill approximately 3,700 of those women.

In the United States, the most common sexually transmitted infection is HPV, according to the FDA.

At some point in their lives, at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women will contract genital HPV infection, according to the CDC. Most people who are infected don't know that they have HPV because they have no signs or symptoms, yet they can still transmit the virus to their partners.

"During an average week, I myself would probably treat from three to four students for external genital warts," Craig said. These students are only the ones that have the noticeable symptoms of HPV.

Females from ages 9 to 26 are approved for the vaccine. Studies showed that females who were already infected with the HPV virus were not protected when they took the vaccine.

Females at UF who are not sexually active are the best candidates for the vaccine, because they have not yet been infected, and the majority of them are in the specified age range.

Sexually active females at UF who have not contracted HPV are also candidates for the vaccine. Women can determine if they have HPV through a routine Pap smear, according to the CDC Web site.

This vaccine would prevent these females from ever contracting HPV, which would then reduce the spread to other UF students.

Gardasil is given in three doses, at $120 a dose, over a six-month period.

The high cost of the vaccine could be a drawback for students.

"If it costs a UF student more than $50 to go get the vaccine, then I don't think that a lot of them will use it," said Allison Carter, a UF health education and behavior junior.

Craig is not yet sure if UF will be able to offer the vaccine at a discount to UF students.

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