HPV Vaccines Are Making a Difference!

Great news needs to be shared! It is so nice to see such dramatic and positive benefits from a treatment. The beauty of vaccines lies in their typical cost-effective and dramatic efficacy.

In the June 19, 2013 Journal of Infectious Disease, a study report, “Reduction in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Prevalence Among Young Women Following HPV Vaccine Introduction in the United States, National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2003–2010”, describes the measured decrease in vaccine type HPV prevalence among a nationally representative sample of females 14–19 years old in the vaccine era (2007–2010) compared with the pre-vaccine era (2003–2006). HPV prevalence in cervicovaginal swabs was performed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 2002. The article reports the national HPV prevalence among females in the pre-vaccine era (NHANES 2003–2006) and the vaccine era (NHANES 2007–2010) and estimates vaccine effectiveness.

The bottom line: the incidence of HPV infections by the strains included in Merck’s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix fell by 56% among 14- to 19-year olds in the vaccine era. Measured 82% effectiveness with at least one dose. Somewhat surprisingly, measures of the HPV prevalence show decreases of those HPV strains covered and those not covered by the vaccines:

The authors stated: “The decline in vaccine type prevalence is higher than expected and could be due to herd immunity from vaccination, vaccine effectiveness of a series involving <3 doses, and/or changes in sexual behavior that we did not measure. This decline is encouraging, given the substantial health and economic burden of HPV-associated disease.”.