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37% of U.S. Teen Girls Got HPV Vaccine

19/09/2009 16:54:00 admin

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By Rachel Stockton rachels at foodconsumer dot org

Only 18% Received All 3 Shots; Coverage Varies by State

Gardasil Gaining Popularity Across the Nation

If you want to determine how far we’ve come when it comes to cancer treatment and prevention in the United States, check out the progress that’s been made in the war on cervical cancer.

At one time, cervical cancer was the most deadly form of cancer among women. Over the last forty years, cervical cancer deaths have decreased sharply, mainly because of the Pap Smear, a diagnostic tool used to detect changes in the cervix that, over time, can lead to cervical cancer. The effectiveness of the pap smear is clear; when detected early, cervical cancer is easily treatable.

The pap smear has a new partner in fighting cervical cancer, and that is the two year old vaccine, Gardasil. The vast majority of cervical cancer cases in the United States are directly attributable to the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease that can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, genital warts, infertility and ultimately, cervical cancer.

According to a new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) survey, 37% of all teenage girls in the United States have received at least one of the three Gardasil injections; 18% have had all three. The vaccine helps prevent four different strains of HPV when the entire series is taken. While those four strains make up the vast majority of all cases of HPV, there are others that can cause cancer. This means that girls still need to be fairly vigilante about having regular paps.

HPV and cervical cancer are silent invaders; many times, there are no symptoms unless they have caused infertility. The CDC states that every year, 25,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed; in 2005, just under 4,000 women died from the disease.

Cervical cancer is most likely to appear in women of Hispanic dissent, as well as in women at or below poverty level. However, this may change in the future due to the fact that the expensive vaccine is part of the Vaccines for Children program, which provides the vaccination for uninsured girls.

The CDC recommends the vaccine for girls as young as 11-12, and then for young women from ages 13-26 who have not been vaccinated previously.

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Comments (2 posted):

Annon on 21/09/2009 02:35:39

Your readers may be interested in the book “The HPV Vaccine Controversy: Sex, Cancer, God and Politics” authored by Shobha S. Krishnan, M.D, Barnard college, Columbia University. It is available at amazon.com and Barnes and Noble .com and is written without the influence of any pharmaceutical company or special interest groups. The book educates both professionals and the public about HPV infections, the diseases they cause and the role/ controversies surrounding the new vaccines. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, June 17th 2009) calls the book superb and a terrific contribution to the field. Link to the book: http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C35011.aspx

Jodi Speakman on 17/11/2009 17:39:18

My daughter, Victoria, has been ill since February 2008. She had her first Gardasil vaccination November 2007. Her second vaccination was in the beginning of February 2008. Immediately after her second vaccination, Victoria experienced severe diarrhea, vomiting and was nauseous for about eight weeks. She had blood work done many times and doctors thought it was just a virus. On March 31, 2008, she had her first seizure.

My daughter has had several CT scans, MRI's, MRA's, EEG's, blood work and was hospitalized at an epilepsy center in the video EEG monitoring unit for two separate weeks in May 2008 and September 2008. She attempted to undergo a spinal tap in September 2009, but doctors were unable to obtain any fluid. On November 11, 2009, she underwent a lumbar puncture with fluoroscopy. She was put on many different seizure medications, however, after normal EEG results, she was taken off all medications. Her SED rate was high and she did have protein in her urine, but doctors do not seem concerned. I was told that her red blood are small and that she may have Thalasemia, but this apparently is not concerning either.

My daughter currently experiences the following symptoms: non-epileptic seizures, severe jerking movements of her whole body, especially her mouth and extremities, migraines, fainting, tremors, twitches, numbness, intermittent leg paralysis, hand/arm paralysis and facial paralysis, tingling, staring or blank episodes, eye pain, joint pain, neck pain, back pain, memory loss, confusion, brain fog, regression, mood swings and severe chronic fatigue. She continues to have bouts of nausea and diarrhea and stomach pain. She has not been in school since April 2008. My daughter cannot be left home alone. She cannot go to school, go out with her friends or work or has little "normalcy" in her life. She has very few good days and always says she doesn't feel good. Victoria should have graduated high school in June 2009 and would have been enrolled in college.

Victoria and I have appeared on Fox news in August 2009, the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer in August 2009 and also the cover of Philadelphia Weekly newspaper.

Each day, I cry and wonder if Victoria will be next one to die from adverse reactions to Gardasil. There are greater than 15,000 reported cases of adverse effects from the vaccine which have been reported to the NVIC (many of the adverse effects are extremely serious) and approximately 38 deaths have been reported.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Jodi Speakman (267) 939-0591

Jodispeaks@aol.com
P.S. My daughter's story is posted at www.nvic.org along with several other girls.

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