A top cancer prevention expert recently said routine testing for women vaccinated against human papillomavirus could be substantially eased in the future due to the success of an HPV vaccine rollout that started ten years ago.
According to a Mail Online report, Professor Peter Sasieni, a cancer prevention expert from King's College London, said women vaccinated against HPV might only require a single smear test for cervical cancer in their lifetime.
Essentially, women aged 25 to 49 years old are presently tested for the disease every three years. Women aged 50 and 64 years are tested for the virus every five years as part of the National Health Service's multi-million-pound screening program.
The vaccine, offered to girls from eight years, has reduced rates for cervical cancer by almost 90 percent in the first generation of women to be given the vaccine. Furthermore, the jab prevents infection from HPV, a common group of viruses that are accountable for nine in every ten cervical cancer cases.
No Routine Swabbing Needed
In a radio program, Professor Sasieni was asked if women who are vaccinated would still need to be swabbed routinely. He said, "I don't think they do." The professor elaborated, saying he thinks that possibly one screen will be enough, perhaps two screens for a lifetime.
He also said they've now seen that cancers of the cervix have been cut by more than 80 percent in women in their 20s, whether they have been vaccinated or not.
It will be an even greater decrease among the vaccinated, he continued. A new vaccine will be used in the United Kingdom from September, which shields against even more types of the virus, a similar Washington News Post report said.
British girls aged 12 to 13 were offered first in 2008 the two-dose vaccine, with jabs given at a six-month interval.
Then, from 2019, the vaccine was also made available to teenage boys. Men can also get cancer from HPV and can put women as well, at heightened risk by transferring the virus through sexual contact.
Disadvantages of Frequent Screening
Professor Sasieni explained there are disadvantages to screening too frequently. It is more convenient for women, it's costly, and the more screening is done, the more women need treatment.
He added that most women getting treated need that treatment, although some of them would have recovered naturally minus that treatment.
Therefore, he continued, there is balance. If one uses the HPV test, he doesn't think he needs to screen more than once every five years.
This comes in the middle of calls for millions of young men to provide "catch-up" HPV vaccines. Twelve- to 13-year-old boys have only been able to get the vaccine in England and Wales in September 2019.
They're getting indirection from immunization among girls they may have grown up to have a sexual encounter with, according to a similar Today UK News report. However, amid a growing body of research presenting that vaccine is highly effective and safe, experts have called for more to be vaccinated to help completely eradicate the virus.
Related information about the HPV vaccine's efficacy is shown on BBC News's YouTube video below:
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