If only people would take care of themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and infections as well as they do against swine flu.
Every year, more than 6 million Americans become infected with Human Papillomavirus, or HPV. Swine flu is detectable because of its obvious physical symptoms: fatigue, headaches, nausea and muscle pains.
Sounds more like everyday symptoms, right? On the other hand, HPV cannot be detected because it does not show any symptoms. Because of this, HPV has become the new silent killer.
There are more than 100 different types of HPV infections that infect both men and women. The most common HPV-related infections are genital warts, cervical and penile cancer.
People should pay more attention to illnesses and infections that impact on their health. I’m not trying to demean the impact swine flu has had worldwide, but it is just one of many diseases that will get its 15 minutes of fame.
In less than one month people will have forgotten about it.
HPV is bigger and more important because a lot of people don’t know about it, nor are they informed on ways to prevent it. More people are becoming infected every year.
According to Gary Freed, a professor of health policy at the University of Michigan, cervical cancer affects 10,000 women and kills 4,000 women each year. The majority are women infected with HPV.
One way to prevent this infection and other related diseases — such as cervical cancer — is through the vaccine Gardasil from the pharmaceutical company Merck. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the vaccine is effective in 95 to 100 percent of cases and prevents four specific HPV infections.
Gardasil is designed for females between the ages of nine and 26, who have not been infected with HPV and/or have not begun sexual activity, but can still be effective if the female has already begun sexual activity. The vaccine is also made for males, although the FDA has not yet confirmed its effectiveness.
To date, no problems have arisen with patients who have had the shot. A common side effect might be soreness in the area where the shot was given. I have received this shot and have not experienced any side effects, or felt anything different in my body.
The vaccine is given in a three-step process over six months. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most insurance plans cover the cost of the three vaccines needed.
Even though these vaccines may be out of reach for some people, you can’t put a price on good health.
Olivia Cervantes is a junior journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.
How many women have been married to a cheating husband who has infected them with a sexually transmitted disease? How many women believe that in marriage they are in a committed relationship that does not require the use of condoms for protection against sexually transmitted diseases? How many women have had to have a hysterectomy to save their lives upon being diagnosed with cervical cancer caused by HPV? I know several women who have suffered these tragedies. Yes, I call them tragedies. I call them this because these women would have liked to have had children but could not. HPV was literally a life altering experience. These women would have given anything to have had some way of protecting themselves from contracting this disease. With proper medical advice, Gardasil is as safe as most other prescription drugs. Sure, there may be some women who may not be able to tolerate the drug, but that should not be cause to damn the drug. I thank Ms. Cervantes for writing an opinion piece to raise awareness to this terrible STD and the fact that there is a vaccine available to protect women from the most common types of HPV.
Ms. Cervantes:
Nina’s comment below — about the negative side-effects of Gardasil, as experienced by her daughter — is unfortunately quite common. Equally unfortunate, thus, is your glaring irresponsibility to acknowledge that side of the Gardasil question in your piece. Your published words are read by others. One would hope that you will cite more solid-source facts, double if not triple-check the validity of your statements, and exercise far better judgment and balance in your future articles/columns. Thank you, Nina, for posting your comment, as well as others below who have asked basic questions that you, Ms. Cervantes, neglected to do.
A CSULB Journalism Graduate
Ms. Cervantes:
As a journalism major, you might consider that part of a reporter’s job is to question the status quo, or at least to report source-valid views that contrast against received “conventional wisdom.” For example, you do not report any source findings that question the ethical or medical opposition to the use of Gardasil, especially on young teenage girls. Granted, your comments are offered in the context of an opinion piece; but, nevertheless, your credibility as a responsible reporter is on the line, no matter the format.
In addition, your own individual testimony about Gardasil is hardly scientific, nor lends a greater balance to your views as to the long-term safety of the drug.
If you did more of your homework as a journalism student, and were a more informed citizen in general, you would know that pharmaceutical companies are notorious for their self-interest in prescription drug promotion, for their deception on questions of human safety, and for fending off class-action lawsuits that are filed years, sometimes DECADES, after initial drug use, owing to subsequent or criminally-suppressed scientific findings on the dangers of a particular medication. The pharmaceutical industry is a powerful lobby in Congress, and invests millions of dollars in marketing campaigns each year to promote their products. They are in the primary BUSINESS of making profits, not necessarily people’s long-term wellness. Do you not see an inherent conflict of interest here?
At the least, therefore, you should be more skeptical, and educate yourself, for your own sake and that of others’ before blindly advocating the use of Gardasil. (Or perhaps you might wish to switch to public relations for the pharmaceutical companies, p.r. having an entirely different agenda than journalism’s purpose to seek out FACTS.)
I genuinely applaud your efforts to help educate the campus on the prevalence and dangers of HPV. That’s important. Good for you. But also consider this on the matter of pro-active health awareness: why not balance your published views with valid health-practitioner sources and others, who may also advise on the merits of safe-sex (such as the consistent use of condoms) rather than assuming a default position of taking (or having one’s young daughter take) a drug whose long-term safety has been seriously questioned by many.
In a drug-happy nation, the issue of monied self-interest, as it impacts ethics and true health, is paramount. Should people become more dependent upon questionable for-profit medications, or try to exercise other (safe and healthy) independent options for their health?
Given your intent to help promote health awareness and disease prevention in the public, do you not therefore find your one-sided piece just a tad ironic in the context of these other questions? Questions which you, as a journalism student, should be trained to ask yourself on a reflexive basis — that’s your job.
Good luck to you, and good health.
A CSULB Journalism Graduate
THIS ARTICLE IS FALSE & FICTITIOUS. Contrary to this article stating that “HPV has become the new silent killer” and that it causes “penile cancer”, HPV itself has NEVER killed anyone, and it does NOT lead to penile cancer. For the real facts, please check out the websites for the Centers For Disease Control and also the National Institute of Health.
She should have written that side effects are possible because the human body is not generically disposed across the species. There probably isn’t a human concoction in history that couldn’t cost at least one person a counter reaction, including green tea.
This is a completely erroneous article. Please state your sources for cervical cancer and hpv statistics. Olivia, your byline states you are a junior—I’m assuming a junior in college—which makes you the target market for Gardasil. Please take time to familiarize yourself with the side effects from the Gardasil vaccine. For you to say no problems have arisen with patients who have had the shot is false. Furthermore, according to the American Cancer Society, cervical cancer is not on its list of ten deadliest cancers. Pap smears are credited with the drastic and steady reduction of cervical cancer in the United States. My daughter along with thousands of other young women have experienced serious health issues since vaccination by Gardasil.