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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 06 2018, @06:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the still-have-a-long-way-to-go dept.

Naaman Zhou at The Guardian writes that Australia's free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme in schools has been highly successful. The International Papillomavirus Society calculates that within 40 years, the number of new cases of cervical cancer will become nearly negligible.

HPV (human papillomavirus) is a sexually transmitted infection that causes 99.9% of cervical cancers. In 2007, the federal government began providing the vaccine for free to girls aged 12-13 years, and in 2013, it extended the program to boys.

Girls and boys outside those ages but under 19 can also access two doses of the vaccine for free. In 2016, 78.6% of 15-year old girls and 72.9% of 15-year old boys had been vaccinated.

As a result, the HPV rate among women aged 18 to 24 dropped from 22.7% to 1.1% between 2005 and 2015.

Eradication is still a few decades out but within reach. The vaccinations are backed up by more advanced cervical screening tests, which are themselves highly successful in detecting high-risk HPV infections before they turn really bad.

Source : Australia could become first country to eradicate cervical cancer. The Guardian


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by cocaine overdose on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:31PM (2 children)

    Upon first read, I questioned the hype-factor of the title. Upon second read, "the federal government began providing the vaccine for free to girls aged 12-13 years," popped out at me. Is Australia really pin-pointing the root cause here? If your middle school-aged girls are getting HPV at a significant rate, I believe there is something amiss. I cannot put my tongue on it, but it smells fishy. Otherwise, I must commend our fellows over in the New Holland penal colony for their advancement in herpetology. Whether these vaccines were or were not "intercepted" from Chinese merchant ships, by the indigenous population of Conberra, whomst armed themselves with a fleet of hand-crafted skiffs and battle kangaroos, learning nothing from their past, is not important. What is important, is the advancement of developing nations' HDI to above 0.01.

    In their mother language, which is still yet to be fully deciphered, "No worries, she’ll be right mate."

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:38PM (#648630)

    The idea to is to specifically vaccinate for HPV before sexual contact (highly likely exposure on first partner) ever occurs, so middle school is a good target age to give them the immunity before they’re exposed to the virus.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:40PM (#648748)

      So we start with a boy and girl, both age 10. They skip the vaccine. They start dating at age 14. They get married at age 18, and thus have their first and last partner. What makes exposure highly likely? HPV does not come out of thin air.

      Maybe this is a problem specific to places like Australia, where the woman can't carry protection. In many parts of the USA, she'd be able to stop a rapist with a gun.