The last week in April is set aside worldwide to commemorate ‘world vaccination week’. At the mention of the word ‘vaccine’, I immediately begin to think of vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. I am pretty certain that most of us have memories of being vaccinated in school or have seen children being vaccinated. We rarely think of adult vaccinations most especially the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
The high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) serotypes are the causative agents of cervical cancer and have been implicated in the causation of penile cancer, anal cancer and oropharyngeal cancer. There are about 16 high-risk serotypes of HPV including types 16, 18, 33, 35, 52 and 56. About 3.5% of women in the general population are estimated to harbor cervical HPV-16/18 infection at a given time, and 66.9% of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPVs 16 or 18. The virus can be transmitted from an infected person through unprotected sexual intercourse, genital-to-genital rubbing, oral sex and anal sex. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in Nigeria today. Current estimates indicate that every year 14943 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 10403 die from the disease. Cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria and the 2nd most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age HPV infection is preventable through the use of vaccines. The vaccine is recommended for adolescents who have not been exposed to sexual intercourse. The bivalent vaccine protects from types 16 and 18. However, the individual may be infected by other serotypes. Routine screening is essential for detecting early changes in the cell which could signal later development of cervical cancer. Pap smears can be done every three years and HPV screening done every five years.