BDHF Welcomes HPV Vaccination Change

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The British Dental Health Foundation has welcomed a change in the HPV vaccination programme.

The government has announced plans to change the vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus from Cervarix to Gardasil. The BDHF believes that the change will provide more health benefits, as well as protecting against genital warts.

In 2010, around 75,000 people were diagnosed with genital warts and the vaccination helps to prevent around 400 cases of cervical cancer each year. Studies conducted in recent years have found an increasingly strong link between HPV and oral cancer and cases of oral cancer have doubled in the last decade, with more and more young people being diagnosed with the disease.

The BDHF has welcomed the proposal to extend the vaccination programme to boys, as well as girls. The decision comes after recommendations from experts in the USA. According to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extending the programme to boys and young men is cost-effective as well as beneficial for health.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections but public awareness is low and most people are unaware of the relationship between HPV and oral cancer.

Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the BDHF, said that evidence suggests that Gardasil will work against other strains of HPV, as well as protecting against cervical cancer. Dr Carter added that he hopes to see the proposal come into practice as soon as possible.

 

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