msnbc.com news services
updated 55 minutes ago 2011-10-25T15:42:55
U.S. vaccine advisers Tuesday (click title to entry - thank you)The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voted unanimously to recommend routine use of Gardasil in 11- and 12-year-old boys to fight the sexually transmitted virus, with 13 yes votes and one abstention.
Previously, the CDC has said doctors are free to use the vaccine in boys but it has stopped short of recommending routine vaccination. The committee's recommendation is subject to approval by the CDC....
Women contract HPV from men. It is not autonomously infected. So, it would be better if men were immune to the virus to insure there is no possiblity for a woman to even receive the virus.
The antibody titers, (click here) measured in ELISA units/ml, induced by Cervarix remain 13- and 12-fold higher than natural infection titers at 6.4 years for HPV-16 and -18, respectively, with over 98% of the women vaccinated maintaining initial seroconversion through 6.4 years. An increased memory B-cell response has been demonstrated in women 18–30 years of age who were seronegative and PCR negative for HPV-16/18 at the time of vaccination at 1 month after the three doses of Cervarix compared with the HPV-16/18 VLPs adjuvanted with aluminum alone....
Excessive titer levels are not necessarily better. There are concerns about Gardasil as far as I am concerned. It is a new vaccine with no long term history of female exposure to it. I am a bit disappointed in the 'quality control' after vaccine advocated by Merck. Any medication distributed after FDA approval inevitably shows up some 'outlier' statistics that were invisible in controlled studies. The reason is the larger group of people now receiving the vaccine. As the group receiving the vaccine increases so does the number of statistical events.
I strongly recommend all vaccine manufacturers regardless of their end user recommend measuring titer levels and report these levels to the CDC. While high titer levels are considered a measure to the success of the vaccine, I also am concerned about levels too high and the potential long term effects.
In regard to Gardasil, Merck should be recommending abdominal ultrasounds for any receipient over the first twenty to thirty years of vaccine exposure to women. It would add to the information base and could be deterimined to the effectiveness of the titer level to prohibiting cervical cancer.
Those titer levels should apply to men and women or girls and boys. It is not just data that is of concern, it is to monitor the effectiveness of the vaccine and the need for boosters no different than DPT.
While the human body spins out 'natural levels' of antibodies to any form of disease or virus, the truly effective level in males and females are not necessarily realized. "In practice' can be differnt than 'in vitro' results. This is the first time these viruses are being targeted and it is only prudent to continue to seek information regarding the populations of the vaccinated. It is not only smart medicine, it is reassuring to all those receiving it. The cost of the titers and ultrasounds are not that of Merck, but, simply a recommendation for physicians to follow. I hope the CDC and Merck consider following receipents closely enough to realize 'the trends' of effectiveness of this vaccine.
Non-invasive pelvis ultrasounds show a great deal of cervical details. I recommend pelvic ultrasounds to any woman in addition to a palpation exam. It should be routine for at least one generation of Gardasil recipients. Pelvic ultrasounds do absolutely no harm to women while showing the minorist of details in changes of ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, cervix and internal supporting tissue.
