Vaccine experiment aimed at eliminating widespread sex disease
Results expected in Finland in a few year’s time
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Finland will soon see if it is possible to wipe out a common sexually transmitted disease with a vaccine. The initial results of an experimental programme are expected three years from now.
A study is underway in more than 30 communities around Finland, where 30,000 girls and boys at the upper level of comprehensive school are to be offered either a vaccine against either the human papillomavirus (HPV) or against hepatitis B. The progress of those receiving the vaccines will be monitored for years.
“We are reaching the minimum goal”, says Matti Lehtinen, a research professor at the University of Tampere and the National Institute for Health and Welfare. Also involved in the study are the University of Helsinki, and the Family Federation of Finland.
Three common children’s diseases have been successfully wiped out in Finland with the help of vaccines. The MPR vaccine helped eliminate measles, mumps and rubella (German measles).
It is hoped that the papillomavirus vaccine might achieve the same results. Two variations of the virus cause a majority of the infections, which can cause genital warts, possibly leading to cancer of the cervix and other genital malignancies.
Cervical cancers and their precursors have increased among young women. Both are screened for in smear tests, but only about half of those invited for an examination show up.
Two vaccines provide protection against the cancers and their precursors, but their high price has dampened demand.
The aim in Finland is to protect young people by wiping out the viruses. The vaccine is to be administered before the onset of sexual activity, as most of the infections take place within a few years of the first sexual contact.
The aim is to achieve a mass immunity, which has proven successful with rubella.
“Vaccines for rubella were first offered to girls. The vaccine was taken by 70 per cent of all girls, but the disease continued to cause epidemics every three or four years”, Lehtinen says.
The disease was not eliminated until boys were also immunised.
Many countries are offering the vaccine to girls for free. However, the popularity of the voluntary vaccine has remained minimal. For instance, in Germany, just 40 per cent of girls take the vaccine.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 6.4.2009 - TODAY |
 Vaccine experiment aimed at eliminating widespread sex disease |
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