AAP Recommends Routine Vaccination Against HPV

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently gave its stamp of approval for routine vaccination against HPV (human papillomavirus) for preteen and teen girls. Called Gardasil, the vaccine provides protection against four types of HPV, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the world. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer and genital warts, affecting more than half of sexually active people at some point in their lives — about 6.2 million people each year.

The AAP’s 2007 childhood immunization schedule recommends vaccination for girls 11 to 12 years old and "catch-up immunization" for girls 13–18. Given as three injections over a 6-month period, the vaccine is also approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent cervical cancer in females between 9 and 26 years of age.

But what if your daughter isn't sexually active and may not be for a long time? Actually, the HPV vaccine has the best chance of protecting against infection if the series of shots is given before a female becomes sexually active.

Girls may contract HPV in their teenage or young adult years — through intimate sexual contact, such as vaginal, oral, or anal sex — and then develop cervical cancer years later.

HPV can sometimes also lead to genital warts, but often there are no physical signs of infection. When there are symptoms, genital warts can appear as painless, flesh-colored growths or bumps that appear in and around the vagina, anus, or on the cervix in females and on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh in males.

Men infected with HPV can also be at risk for cancer of the penis and the anus, though there is no vaccine currently available for males.