Die Australier sind mal wieder meilenweit voraus:
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Boys may get cervical cancer vaccine
15th November 2008, 10:15 WST
Pharmaceutical giant CSL will investigate the cost effectiveness of
vaccinating young Australian boys with the cervical cancer vaccine
Gardasil after the long-awaited results of a trial showed it slashed their
risk of developing genital cancer.
A trial by Merck, CSL's American partner, found that Gardasil prevented 90
per cent of genital warts and some precancerous lesions in males aged 16
to 26, ending speculation about whether the vaccine's effect would be as
potent in boys and young men as it is in girls and young women.
The study of 4000 heterosexual and homosexual males found the vaccine
prevented specific lesions, including early signs of penile and anal
cancers caused by the human papilloma virus types 6, 11, 16 and 18.
This was over and above any benefit in terms of preventing the spread of
HPV linked to cervical cancer in women.
Sexual health experts said the results would fuel calls for schoolboys as
well as girls to be vaccinated.
Although the vaccine is approved in Australia for use in boys aged nine to
15, it is not funded under the national HPV vaccination program because
health authorities have argued there has not been enough evidence of its
effectiveness.
Professor Basil Donovan, from the National Centre in HIV at the University
of Sydney, said the results were promising because there had been some
concern that the biological differences in boys and girls meant the
vaccine might not have worked in boys.
"So this is very reassuring to see that the patterns look exactly the
same," he said.
"It's not cost-effective to vaccinate boys as well as girls (to prevent
cervical cancer) because the vaccine in the girls is so good and so you
don't add much value. But what this research points to is that
we can
start looking seriously at vaccinating boys for their own sake."
Professor Donovan said
half the HPV-linked cancers covered by the vaccine
were not based in the cervix and included anal cancers or head and neck
cancers. CSL spokeswoman Rachel David said the results were encouraging and showed
the vaccine worked in boys as hoped.
Dr David said parents could get boys vaccinated but CSL would not make a
submission for Government funding until the end of 2010. She thought the
target age group would be 12 to 13-year-old boys before they became
sexually active.
CATHY O'LEARY
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more:
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=108221http://www.thewest.com.auA real good newspaper!.
