Matthew Herper, 07.21.10, 04:15 PM EDT

HPV–known for causing cervical cancer–is emerging as the leading cause of throat cancer in men. Should they get the vaccine too?

Martin Duffy, a Boston consultant and economist, thought he just had a sore throat. When it persisted for months, he went to the doctor and learned there was a tumor on his tonsils.

Duffy, now 70, had none of the traditional risk factors for throat cancer. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink and has run 40 Boston marathons. Instead, his cancer was caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is sexually transmitted and a common cause of throat and mouth cancer.

HPV tumors have a better prognosis than those caused by too many years of booze and cigarettes. But Duffy “is in the unlucky 20%” whose cancer comes back–despite rounds of chemotherapy and radiation that melted 20 more pounds off a lean 150-pound frame. Now the cancer has spread throughout his throat, making eating and talking difficult. “I made my living as a public speaker,” he says. “Now I sound like Daffy Duck.” Duffy believes he has only a few months left. “How do you tell the people you love you love them?” he asks.

Nine Things You Need To Know About HPV

Most strains of the HPV virus are harmless, but persistent infections with two HPV strains cause 70% of the 12,000 cases of cervical cancers diagnosed annually in the U.S. Other forms of the sexually transmitted virus can cause penile and anal cancer, and genital warts. The HPV throat cancer connection has emerged in just the last few years and is so new that the government doesn’t track its incidence. Researchers believe it is transmitted via oral sex. But top researchers estimate that there are 11,300 HPV throat cancers each year in the U.S.–and the numbers are growing fast as people have been having more sexual partners since the 1960s. By 2015 there could be 20,000 cases. For more surprising discoveries about HPV, read here.

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OMG – I am choking – could there be a headline filled with more fear than this one……cancer causing sex virus?   This is called marketing, dear readers….a great title will grab your attention – you are reading this aren’t you?  You choke and say OMG – maybe I SHOULD get the vaccine….and boom – they grab you hook line and sinker.

One 70 year old man with throat cancer – 2.4 women per 100,000 who die from invasive cervical cancer vs. 18,600 adverse reactions (many of them life threatening and life altering)  and 75 deaths.  Those are the facts.   Do not let a great headline sway your judgment.

TUESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) — A new study finds that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects not only against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, but also helps prevent genital warts and low-grade cervical growths.

The findings are published in the July 21 online edition of BMJ. Health officials in the United States have been urging vaccination of young women and girls.

The researchers estimate that the virus causes an estimated 500,000 cases of cervical cancer in women each year around the world. The virus can also cause warts in the genital area and low-grade cervical growths. Those two conditions are thought to strike 30 million people annually.

In the just-released randomized control trial, researchers studied 17,622 women in 24 countries and territories who had been assigned to take the vaccine or a placebo over a six-month period. The women were aged 16 to 26.

Joakim Dillner, of the department of medical microbiology, Lund University, Malmo University in Sweden, and colleagues found that the vaccine provided significant protection against the warts and tumors in susceptible women. For example, 168 of 7,632 women who took the placebo developed cervical growths attributed to HPV strains, while just seven of the 7,629 who took the vaccine did, they noted.

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Please read the comment I posted at the end of the article.

For the first time ever, a vaginal gel has unequivocally blocked the transmission of HIV. In a trial that involved nearly 900 South African women, those who received a vaginal gel that contains an anti-HIV drug had a 39% lower chance of becoming infected by the virus than those who received a placebo. As reported today online in Science and in a presentation at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, of the 444 women who received a placebo gel, 60 became infected with HIV, versus 38 infections in the 445 women who received the microbicide. The result was statistically significant, and no serious side effects occurred.

Read more and listen to the podcast at

http://www.sciencemag.org/hottopics/hivprevention/.

It is not often that I write a personal post – however, with over 18,600 adverse reactions from Gardasil and Cervarix and 75 deaths as reported to VAERS – with only 1 to 10% of the population reporting these events – it is important for people to know what Big Pharma is doing next and its implications for women world wide.

There is a new HPV vaccine being trialed in Canada – with increased amounts of aluminum. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20080248062.pdf

Gardasil is now mutating into Silgard and marketed in 110 to 130 smaller countries in Europe and the Far East.

India is now set to develop its own – less expensive HPV vaccine. India capable of producing lower-cost HPV vaccine

The first concern is the lack of adequate tracking systems in  smaller countries for adverse reactions and deaths from HPV vaccines.

The VAERS reporting system only tracks those vaccines administered in the United States. There are a small percentage of women in other countries who are posting their adverse reactions to this system.

However, with the mutation of the HPV vaccines into new product names it is going to be impossible to track adverse reactions and deaths.

Big Pharma is also issuing reports on how the human papillomavirus is now linked to other cancers – of the skin etc. in the body – increasing the fear factor to increase vaccination rates.  This is a genetically modified virus and does not replicate in the body unless prompted by the vaccine – which is why women already exposed to the virus AND who get the vaccine have a 44.6% increased rate of getting cervical cancer with Gardasil and 32. something % with Cervarix.

On a personal level, for those of us involved with TruthAboutGardasil.org it is going to make our job much more difficult in educating the public about potential HPV vaccine dangers and to track women who have had problems with the vaccine.

There I have said my piece.  Big Pharma is savvy and they know exactly what they are doing in introducing mutated HPV vaccine names (same ingredients into the market.)

We must demand an independent study into the safety and efficacy of the HPV vaccines before more women are harmed.

This is a women’s issue and must be addressed for the sakes of our daughters.

Leslie

Australia
July 6, 2010

Rates of new genital wart infection in Australia have plummeted, research shows, in an early positive sign of the success of mass Gardasil vaccinations.

A study taking in patient data from sexual health clinics across the country has shown up to a 60 per cent drop off in new genital wart cases since 2007, when the anti-cancer vaccine was rolled out.

Gardasil works by preventing the transmission of four strains of the Human papillomavirus (HPV), two of which cause cervical cancer and two which cause genital warts.

Experts say while its effect on cervical cancer rates would take longer to materialise, the vaccine’s ability to prevent a less serious though embarrassing problem was now clear.

“Genital warts are distressing to the patient, as well as being difficult and expensive to treat,” said Professor Basil Donovan, head of the Sexual Health Program at the University of NSW’s National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

“While we knew from clinical trials that the vaccine was highly effective, Australia is the first country in the world to document a major benefit for the population as a whole.”

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Thomas W. Weiss, Dr.P.H.a, Gregory D. Zimet, Ph.D.b, Susan L. Rosenthal, Ph.D.c, Susan K. Brenneman, Ph.D.d, Jonathan D. Klein, M.D.ef

Received 2 February 2010; accepted 2 March 2010. published online 21 April 2010.

Anna C. Robert, M.S.N., Freya L. Sonenstein, Ph.D.

Received 22 April 2009; accepted 18 November 2009. published online 25 January 2010.

Jane of all Trades

June 10, 2010

What is it: HPV, or human papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted infection.

Girls–I know some of my friends were uncomfortable talking to their mother’s about getting the vaccine. The vaccine does not mean that you’re a slut. Instead, it shows that you’re taking a proactive stance for your sexual health.

Please note–I have no affiliation with Gardasil.

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by Ted Purlain on June 1, 2010

Time Magazine reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says men can also benefit from the HPV vaccine Gardasil and that it is a safe method of preventing genital warts.

Gardasil is already recommended to be administered to girls ages 11 to 12 as a routine vaccine, according to the report. The CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices did not go so far as to recommend routine vaccination for men as it is not a cost effective way to prevent the spread of human papillomavirus infection, Time reports.

The report calls the CDC’s recommendation vague on how exactly men should use the shot and who would most benefit from receiving one.

Time reports that the recommendation states that Gardasil “would be most effective when given exposure to HPV through sexual contact.”
The CDC says more specific details will be coming involving higher risk populations, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still reviewing data about the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing pre-cancerous growths among homosexual and bisexual men.

The CDC’s recommendation is specific to Gardasil and does not apply to Cervarix, the HPV vaccine that was approved in 2009 by the FDA. That vaccine targets only HPV’s cancer-causing strains and not the strains that are primarily responsible for genital warts.

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