Gardasil!
That is not true. The purpose of a Pap smear [Papanikolaou Test]
is also to detect abnormal, precancerous, or cancerous cells,
chemical, hormonal, or infectious change and etiology
from the cervix (and other areas). The latter include
Trichomonas, Candida, and Herpes.
Cervical cancer deaths in the US dropped by 74% due to the annual Pap test.
hocndoc: "99.7% plus of all cancerous, or precancerous cervical findings are due to HPV. "
That is true for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical dysplasia.
Is it true for all pathologies? Clear cell?
And it does not excuse the MANDATE of Gardasil.
Didn't they teach you about informed consent, OR relative risk?
There are over 40 Types of HPV, and 15 of them
have been linked to cervical cancer and/or genital warts.
Gardasil has been developed to vaccinate
against the 4 Types that have the highest
correlation with cancer and genital warts.
However, unlike the smallpox vaccine, for example,
Gardasil does not grant full immunity to those 4 Types of HPV.
Gardasil offers no protection against the other
11 strains of HPV that have been linked to cervical cancer. "
The NET Benefit of a medical treatment is
NET BENEFIT = (Risk with NO treatment)*(the net benefit of the treatment) - (The risk of harm).
Are you a physician?
You don’t understand what you’re copying and pasting.
Perhaps if you had to get a repeat pap smear - or had the outer layer of cells removed by laser, freezing, burning or scalpel - of the analogous organ, you would try harder - or appreciate the net benefit.
All childhood vaccines require informed consent from the parent since minors may not consent for medical care in Texas.
Better than relative risk for cervical cancer is the “Number Needed to Treat” (NNT) for HPV infection. The value of any NNT is relative to the costs of the treatment, but we consider efficacy at anything under 100 - we just have to decide whether it’s “worth it.”
The NNT for Gardasil is about 18, meaning that 18 girls get the shot to prevent one infection. We don’t know the incidence of nuclear changes due to those infections, but we do know the cost of whatever percentage there is.
Consider the cost of one to two repeat paps immediately and then the high risk that there are still changes present that are not yet detectable, so the girl or woman must have a pap every 3 to 6 months times 3 then each year for the rest of her life as well as the treatment of precancerous changes that have led to that significant drop in cervical cancer, and of the cancers themselves. The financial cost is enormous, as are the numbers of the lost pregnancies and premature births resulting from damage to the cervix from conization, laser-,cryo-, and electro-therapy.
Yes - the Pap smear is solely for the purpose of looking for cellular/nuclear changes consistent with precancerous or cancerous cells. We use wet prep microscope slides and other tests for other STD’s. Finding those other conditions can invalidate the test and are reported, but that is not the reason for the pap smear. Irritation will cause inflammation, but not nuclear changes consistent with precancerous state.
Yes, virtually all cervical precancerous changes - found at the pap smear or not -are secondary to HPV infection.The percentage of clear cell cancers due to mom’s exposure to DES is small enough to make that 99.7% statistic valid. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0895435688900649
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ hand out on Pap smears:http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp085.cfm
The American Academy of Family Physicians’ hand out:
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/reproductive/gynecologic/138.html
Here’s a good review of the statistics, from a college course:
http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat/vaccine.htm
The fact that the vaccine is not 100% is not a good argument. The flu shot has a 5% failure rate. As to the multiple strains: yes, there are many strains of the virus, but 16 and 18 cause 70% of precancerous/cancerous changes and 11/14 cause about 90% of the genital warts.
All vaccinations involve informed consent forms, signed by the parent or patient. Minors may not consent for vaccinations in Texas.