(AmericanProsperity.com) – Research suggests that getting the HPV vaccine can prevent cancer in men and women, but fewer males are getting the vaccines than females. This HPV vaccine was made to prevent cervical cancer in women, and experts feel that it’s made a difference.
New research suggests that this vaccine is also preventing HPV-related cancers in men as well. Experts say that vaccinated men have fewer mouth or throat cancers than those who don’t have the vaccine. The study followed over three million people of similar ages half of which were vaccinated and half were not.
They looked at the details present in the dataset from the results and found women had a low risk for cervical cancer within about five years of getting the shot. When analyzing the data, they found that men have been greatly affected too, and men who were vaccinated had fewer cancers of the mouth, throat, penis, and anus.
The researchers said that cancers take years to develop, so when looking at the numbers, not many men had these types of cancers.
A Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center head and neck surgeon and co-author of the study, Dr. Joseph Curry, said, “We think the maximum benefit from the vaccine will actually happen in the next two or three decades. What we’re showing here is an early wave of effect.”
Another study performed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology shows that more women have been vaccinated with the HPV vaccine compared to men.
HPV, or human papillomavirus, is quite common, usually has little symptoms, and is spread through sex. Most of these infections go away on their own without treatment, but almost forty thousand HPV cases develop into cancers every year. This vaccine is recommended for boys and girls who are around eleven or twelve years old. Those who weren’t vaccinated as a child should get a catch-up shot around twenty-six years old.
Dr. Danh Nguyen, a co-author of the study out of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said, “HPV vaccine uptake among young males increased by more than fourfold over the last decade, though vaccination rates among young males still fall behind females.”
Experts have said that it’s important to get the vaccine before you’re exposed to the virus.
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