Sexual Health News - Oral and Genital Herpes

Researchers reconfirm HPV vaccine to be safe

By Christopher Lynch, MD Oct. 04, 2012
HPV is currently the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S., and there are more than 40 different strains that can infect the reproductive organs and surrounding area, as well as the mouth and throat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus causes sores and some cancers.

To help protect individuals from HPV-related cancers, the CDC recommends that adolescents and teenagers receive an HPV vaccine like Gardasil, which has recently been reconfirmed to be safe, according to a new study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente analyzed reports from nearly 200,000 young females who received the vaccine and found that the immunization was only associated with fainting on the same day it was administered by a clinician and skin infections during the following two weeks. These results confirm that Gardasil is a safe method of preventing cervical and other reproductive cancers. 

"That this study detected two potentially expected outcomes provides reasonable reassurance that it was a valid approach to uncovering HPV4-associated safety signals," said researcher Nicola Klein, M.D. "The findings substantiate the overall safety of the HPV4 vaccine in women and girls following routine administration."
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