HPV Vaccine: Taking A Shot At Cervical Cancer
PONTIAC - January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. According to the American Cancer Society, about 14-thousand women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and more than 42-hundred will lose their lives to the disease this year. Unlike many cancers, however, we know what causes nearly 99% of all cervical cancer cases: the human papillomavirus, or HPV. HPV is a common virus that will infect most sexually active people at some point in their lives – about four out of five people. An estimated 80-million Americans are currently infected with 14-million new infections diagnosed each year. However, this trend can be slowed, or even stopped in future generations, with a vaccine. Dr. James Mikeworth, an OSF HealthCare pediatrician in Pontiac, Illinois, recommends the vaccine for both girls and boys. “Right now the HPV vaccine has shown a very good immunity and longevity for that immunity through your 20s and 30s. So we know that it works and we know i