Posted on 08/01/2007 11:01:53 AM PDT by mngran
Controversy continues to plague efforts to protect young women against cervical cancer by vaccinating them against HPV, the human papillomavirus, but one leading scientist's discovery could throw a monkey wrench into the debate.
"We found HPV under the fingernails of young men," said Dr. Laura Koutsky, a University of Washington epidemiologist.
Koutsky led some of the pioneering research and clinical trials that resulted in an HPV vaccine, Merck's Gardasil, recently approved for use in girls and young women. The reason her fingernail finding is a potential bombshell has to do with why the vaccine is controversial.
HPV, which is the leading cause of most cervical cancers, is primarily a sexually transmitted disease. Opponents of HPV vaccines believe that immunizing girls against this virus sends the message that engaging in sex at a young age is acceptable behavior.
The presence of HPV under fingernails, she said, at the very least suggests another possible route of transmission. It's an additional route of infection, she said, that could explain some previous apparent anomalies such as HPV infection in infants and young girls who had not yet engaged in sexual activity.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
If the entire female population were immunized, it would have the effect of protecting the straight male population. I don’t see how this isn’t clear.
Keeping one’s fingernails short and washing one’s hands after using the toilet might mitigate HPV somewhat. Might help; wouldn’t hurt.
The “WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care” states that:
• “Failure to comply with hand hygiene is considered the leading cause of health care-associated infections.”
• “Each year, at least two million patients in the USA acquire one or more healthcare-associated infections during their stay in hospital.”
• “Every day 247 people die in the USA as a result of a health-associated infection.”
Infectious diseases, caused by unclean hands, are the leading causes of death and disease worldwide
and the third leading cause of death in the United States.
Back in June, it was reported that over 1,600 adverse reactions, including three deaths, had been linked to Gardasil, Merck’s new vaccine.
It appears those reactions, and deaths, are steadily rising. A review of the National Vaccine Information Center revealed the following, quite alarming, statistic about this unnecessary vaccine: 2,207 adverse reactions to Gardasil have been reported. Among them:
5 girls died
31 were considered life-threatening
1,385 required a visit to the emergency room
451 of the girls have not recovered as of July 2007
51 of the girls were disabled
Gardasil “may be more dangerous than consumers have been led to believe,” according to one public-interest group, and an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine has also raised questions about the vaccine's effectiveness.
Did you know that 90% of all HPV cases clear up on their own with proper diet and proper medical treament?
Plus, five minutes of homework will reveal that NOT ONE fertility test was done on any of the so-called Merck female test subjects for Gardasil. Merck also does not recommend the vaccinations after the age of 25. Hmmmm....why is that????????????????????
Don't drink the koolaid! LOL!
Not if he's been vaccinated! Please encourage him to run out and take advantage of this risk-free protection from potential future infection ... even if he's 10 years old right now.
Alternatively, you can submit a form to the school district that certifies that you object to the vaccination on religious grounds. Most states have such forms available for download on the web. Your assertion that this is mandatory "in America" is simply false.
If you are not a JW or 7DA, it is mandatory, unless you choose to lie.
The fact that there are exemptions does not negate there is a legal mandate. My statement stands.
Hmmm...mom was rather anal about nail trimming. (/off color comment)
Stand on this link. I used this very form when the schools tried to force hepatitis B vaccinations on my sons.
If your family members are dieing of cervical cancer, it suggests that they are not getting proper medical care. I would suggest an immediate change in GYNs.
If this weren’t true, we wouldn’t be seeing hand cleaner on hospital walls. Too bad they aren’t used more.
My state does not confer the same exemptions.
Congratulations, you belong to one of the pricipal states involved in removing HIV from the public health system that has virtually eliminated polio, small pox, tuburculosis, pertusis, tetanus, botulism and others as a cause of death in our country.
Vaccination should not be compulsary.
No one but me is at risk if I choose not to vaccinate. NO ONE. Unless they have also chosen not to vaccinate.
Go run someone elses life.
HPV is a SKIN disease, period. It poses a cancer risk when some women have the virus (certain strands) come in contact with their mucus membrames (cervical cancer) genital warts. It has also been linked to throat cancer.
All it takes is the virus to come into contact with these areas to possibly cause an infection. The idea it only can be spread by intercourse is naive.
I don’t believe children should be given this vaccine, as long term effects are just not known. However those that think this isn’t a real risk to their daughters because its “only an STD” are misinformed.
Its a skin disease, one that something like 80 or 90% of the population will be infected with at one time in their lives or another.
Wrong again. I live in Idaho. Check your facts before making generalizations.
This is not the place to lecture on how immunization protects a population.
Let me simplify. No immunization is 100% effective. If you only immunize a portion of the population, There may be enough sucepible people to allow transmission and/or epidemic of the disease.
On average, a good vaccine is at least partially protective in 90% of the population. This level of protection has been shown to be 100% effective in preventing disease based on the mathmatics of propagation. If there are enough unvaccinated individuals, the disease can propagate and cause illness even some of those that are vaccinated.
By not taking the vaccine, you place yourself and others at risk. You have the right to place yourself at risk. The point where law intervenes is where you place others at risk.
I think it is a shame that schools teach students how to put condems on bananas but don’t teach the basics of public health.
By the way, I have no interest in running your life but where your choices put me and mine at risk, I have a right to comment.
Check your link.
Because this ‘cure’ has not been fully tested. You can get flesh eating bacteria from the ocean, do you plan to bar every person with an open wound from going into the ocean?
It’s entirely up to my wife if she wants this ‘cure’. When my daughters are old enough, it’s their decision if they want this ‘cure’. No government should mandate they get this ‘cure’.
Also, what is the percentage again of HPV strains this prevents? I may be wrong, but IIRC it was 4%. That’s not enough to have the government FORCE my children to get something that we have NO IDEA what the long term effects are.
Dang, you would like it around my household. ‘Round here it’s primarily women telling men and boys what they have to do. You must not be married huh?
I'd not heard of it before (I think it's fairly new) so I had a lot of questions. #1 on the list was "What are the risk factors for transmission?" Dr. said "well (reading from a list)...intravenous drug use. Male-Male sex. Travel to Mexico, China, and other 3rd world countries. Research involving infected primates." There were a few other even more unlikely, scenarios.
As my toddler-age son is not a gay heroin addict, and we're not planning to leave the country anytime soon, I said "no". BUT - if I had just accepted the shot (which, the doc really didn't seem to know too much about) who the heck knows what would have happened.
Granted, the doc said that she thought eventually all kids were going to need a HepA vaccination to attend public school. That's a few years away for us - we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Meanwhile, the drug companies can test their stuff on someone - someone who is afraid to ask questions - else's kid.
I don’t trust this vaccine.
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