Males who get penile cancer, anal cancer or genital warts suffer from an infection known as human Papillomavirus or HPV. 200 in every 100,000 men are affected by genital warts. An FDA advisory committee has recently voted to recommend a new HPV virus for use in men aged between 19 and 26.
Four strains of HPV which is sexually transmitted, are targeted by the Gardasil vaccine. 70% or cervical cancer in women is caused by strains 16 and 18 of HPV and 90% of genital wart cases are caused by strains 6 and 11.
The committee voted unanimously with one absentee vote to recommend the vaccine in 19 to 26 year old males and 7 to 1 that the vaccine was safe for that age group. 5000 men in the age category were tested in clinical trials across the world. There were three trials in total.
The participants were given three shots of Gardasil over a six month period with a control group given a placebo over the same period. Every participant had their health checked by an independent doctor who checked for signs of HPV. Gardasil’s effectiveness was 89% in men who had never experienced HPV before.
There were no serious side effects seen from taking the Gardasil HPV vaccine so it is likely that the FDA will follow the recommendation of its committee although it doesn’t have to. FDA consulting will determine whether the advisory committees’ recommendations will be followed. Cervical cancer is prevented in females aged between 9 and 26 by using a Gardasil HPV vaccine. Boys in some countries are also already getting the vaccine and not health issues have been raised so far.
