FRIDAY, March 26, 2021 (HealthDay News) — There have been significant declines in vaccine-type human papillomavirus (HPV) infections among both vaccinated and unvaccinated adolescent girls and young adult women, according to research published in the March 26 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Hannah G. Rosenblum, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017 to 2018) to assess HPV prevalence estimates among girls and women aged 14 to 34 years.
The researchers found that compared with the prevaccine era, the 2015 to 2018 time period showed significant decreases in quadrivalent vaccine (4vHPV)-type prevalence among girls and women aged 14 to 19 years (88 percent) and 20 to 24 years (81 percent). There was a decrease noted in 4vHPV-type prevalence among sexually experienced females who reported receiving at least one HPV vaccine dose (97 percent among those aged 14 to 19 years; 86 percent among those aged 20 to 24 years), as well as among those who reported no vaccination (87 percent among those aged 14 to 19 years; 65 percent among those aged 20 to 24 years). These significant declines among unvaccinated girls and women suggest herd effects.
“HPV vaccination is a critical prevention tool against HPV infection, anogenital warts, and HPV-attributable precancers and cancers,” the authors write. “HPV vaccination is highly effective and is recommended routinely at age 11 to 12 years and through age 26 years for persons not already vaccinated.”
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