Just 6 years later, HPV vaccine may already provide herd immunity

NCI Many well-established vaccines are needlessly controversial, but a recently developed vaccine that targets the human papilloma virus (HPV) has some properties that caused unusual amounts of public discomfort. The vaccine itself doesn't actually prevent disease symptoms, since HPV infection goes largely unnoticed. Instead, it helps prevent a long-term outcome of infection: cervical cancer. As the cancer's location might suggest, HPV is primarily spread through sexual contact, which is where the controversy comes in. For it to have the highest effectiveness, the vaccine must be administered before girls become...

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Published By: Ars Technica - Wednesday, 11 July, 2012