Jim Dryden
Washington University in St. Louis
06/01/2010
Only about one in three young women has received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer, according to a new report from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The findings are published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The HPV vaccine prevents four strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, two of which are found in about 70 percent of all women with cervical cancer. Both the American Cancer Society and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend that women and girls receive the vaccine, but the new data shows that only 34 percent of girls ages 13 to 17 were vaccinated in the six states surveyed.
“The good news is that the vaccination rate is increasing,” says first author Sandi L. Pruitt, PhD. “The bad news is this is just the first dose of a three-dose vaccine.”