9/11 Tragedy we can prevent for women

• By corellin
• Posted September 11, 2009 at 10:32 am
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Hi piplance -- I read your daughter's book and was both inspired by her positive attitude and saddened by her passing and the great loss to her friends and family. Thank you for your continued efforts to spread the word about HPV and to promote the vaccine as one method of prevention.

I think we need to re-frame and broaden our discussions about HPV, though. People think, due to the small numbers of cancer, that it's something that happens to other people, not them. And yet, millions of women are diagnosed with an abnormal pap smear and hundreds of thousands of women undergo invasive procedures each year to remove abnormal cells -- procedures that have financial, psychological, emotional, social, sexual and reproductive consequences.

There are at least two women on our website who've undergone multiple invasive procedures and are now facing hysterectomies and the loss of their ability, forever, to have children and the life they dreamed. These women haven't gotten cancer and are not part of the cancer statistics you quoted above. I know your daughter would have chosen this over the loss of her life, and I'm so sorry she didn't have that chance, but it's also heartbreaking for those who didn't get cancer, but are suffering tremendously from HPV.

The vaccine will do much more than prevent a portion of the cancers you mentioned above. It will prevent hundreds of thousands of women each year from invasive procedures that include cryotherapy, LEEPs, cones, hysterectomies, vagectomies, vulvectomies, anal procedures, etc. -- women who needed these procedures as a result of infection, mainly with HPV16 to prevent progression to cancer.

And, although the vaccine is a positive step forward, it can only reduce procedures by as much as 40-50%, because non-vaccine types, although contributing less to cancer cases, still contribute more to abnormal results that lead to procedures than the vaccine types.

So I hope you please keep these women as well in your heart and thoughts when you talk about disease-prevention. The vaccine is a huge step forward, but not a cure-all. And I think it's important to understand and talk about the magnitude of the impact of HPV on people's lives so that society at large doesn't continue to downplay and ignore the impact of this virus and can instead focus on developing a multi-faceted approach to reducing bad outcomes from HPV -- an approach that includes vaccination; basic education, awareness and infection control (including type-specific testing); development of non-invasive therapies for women who have HPV and abnormal cells; as well as improving protocols so that doctors aren't over-treating women by subjecting them to procedures that aren't needed.

Thank you again so much for your efforts, piplance, and I want to send my best wishes to you and your family.

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• By flowershoplady
• Posted September 11, 2009 at 8:13 pm
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i agree, corellin. and piplance, your daughter's experience is tragic. i am so sorry for your loss. i think it's great that you've taken on cervical cancer prevention as a mission. so, let's all take a bigger view and not just prevent cervical cancer but also prevent the hpv transmission which is the underlying cause of not just cervical cancer but other hpv related diseases (anal cancers, oral cancers, etc.) including the cervical/vaginal dysplasia that many of us are dealing with by having multiple, often life altering, surgeries. the vaccine is a great start, but only, in my opinion, part of the solution.

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• By jamiegirl
• Posted September 11, 2009 at 10:17 pm
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ditto ditto ditto....

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• By piplance
• Posted September 12, 2009 at 5:02 pm
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Great points ladies.... I will incorporate your points into our Foundation's efforts.

By the way Australian now leads the world in protecting their young women.... 86% vaccination level. This report on results is profound....please read the abstract at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120780751/abstract

Also basic HPV infection testing is dramatically reducing cervical cancer. . "At 8 years follow up, compared with the control group, HPV testing was associated with a 53 percent reduction in advanced cervical cancer diagnoses and a 47 percent reduction in cervical cancer deaths. By comparison, Pap smear was associated with 25 percent and 11 percent reductions, respectively." You can read the details at... http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/040709/page6
I am sure that similar results regarding all the non-cervical cancer problems you mentioned are reduced also.
We stand and fight together.
Kirk

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