Learn More About HPV Vaccine
NORWICH – The William W. Backus Hospital will offer a public information session on the new HPV vaccine, which is for girls and young women to help prevent sexually transmitted diseases that can cause cervical cancer.
The Backus Cancer Center’s Dinner at Backus series will continue this month with “What You Need to Know About Cervical and Endometrial Cancers … and the HPV vaccine.” It will be March 14, at 5 p.m. in conference rooms 1, 2 and 3. The program is free, but registration is required. Call 823-6379 for more information. Speakers will include Backus medical staff members Suzelle Hendsch, MD and Steven Briggs, MD.
The vaccine, called Gardasil, protects women against four strains of the human papillomavirus that are sexually transmitted. The strains are the two most common types that cause cancer and are believed to be responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers; and the two most common types that cause genital warts.
“Within three years of becoming sexually active, 50 percent of women will have acquired some form of human papillomavirus,” Dr. Hendsch said.
Women who are sexually active should still have regular gynecological exams and pap smears.
Controversy has recently surrounded the vaccine and attempts by some states to require it. A public health committee hearing was held in Hartford in February to discuss a proposed bill to prevent cervical cancer, but most attending, including state legislators, doctors and public health officials, urged a wait-and-see approach for the time being.
Meanwhile, local pediatricians say they are already administering the vaccine.
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