Most anal pre-cancers prevented by HPV vaccine
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Gay men with anal pre-cancers can now benefit from HPV vaccine, which was hitherto used to prevent cervical cancer in women caused by sexually transmitted diseases, an international study found. Men who were vaccinated against human papillomavirus developed 75 percent fewer anal lesions that lead to cancer than their counterparts who were given a placebo, said the study in The New England Journal of Medicine
.
The findings were released one day after a US advisory panel urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend routine vaccinations for boys age 11-12 against HPV.
The disease infects at least half of all sexually active adults and can cause genital warts, but often people with HPV show no symptoms at all.
If caught early, the lesions caused by four particularly virulent strains of the virus can often be removed, preventing cancer from forming. But experts say vaccinating against it before people start to have sex is crucial.
There are nearly 6,000 cases of anal cancer diagnosed annually in the United States, and close to 800 deaths, according to US government health statistics.
"What this trial showed is that those cancers and deaths could be prevented," said lead author Joel Palefsky, a professor at University of California San Francisco and director of UCSF's Anal Neoplasia Clinic.
A total of 602 sexually active gay men aged 16-26 from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Spain and the United States were included in the research
.