Researchers with the University of Michigan have concluded that sexual activity among teen girls has no effect on the likelihood that they will contract the genital human papillomavirus (HPV) later in life.
Dr. Amanda Dempsey, the leader of the research team that conducted the study, told Michigan Messenger reporter Alexa Stanard that the study's results support the recommendation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that all women ages 11 to 26 be vaccinated against HPV. Opponents of universal vaccination for HPV have argued that young girls who are not sexually active do not need to be vaccinated because they are not at risk for contracting the virus.
"We couldn't find any discernible adolescent behavior, including sexual activity, that was associated with an increased risk of HPV infection as a sexually active young adult," Dempsey told Stanard, who reported on the study in a July 11 article that was posted on the Messenger website. "HPV is so prevalent that everyone who becomes sexually active is at risk."
Stanard reported the following facts about HPV and the UM study:
- The researchers found no correlation between an adult woman's risk for HPV infection and her number of sexual partners, her history of having older male sexual partners or a new sex partner with the past year, her illegal drug use, her history of sex while alcohol-impaired, or her regular use of cigarettes or alcohol.
- HPV infection usually occurs shortly after a woman becomes sexually active. Most women never know they have HPV because the virus often causes no symptoms and vanishes on its own.
- The HPV vaccine advocated by the CDC guards against four types of HPV: two that cause 70 out of 100 cases of cervical cancer, and two that cause 90 out of 100 cases of genital warts.
The CDC's vaccination recommendation has not met with universal acceptance. In February 2007, Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order directing all sixth-grade girls to receive the series of three shots - but two months later the Texas legislature passed a bill to overturn Perry's decree. The American Cancer Society has echoed the CDC's recommendation of vaccinating young girls, but has called for further study into the necessity of providing the vaccine to women ages 19 to 26.
The only drug currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an HPV vaccine is Gardasil, which is manufactured by Merck & Co. According to information provided by the CDC, the three-shot regimen required for inoculation against HPV costs $125 per dose, or $375 for the entire vaccination series.
Labels: sex, HPV, studies
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