Cervical cancer has been affecting more and more women in the past thirty years. Currently cervical cancer is affecting 13,000 women and of that 13,000 approximately thirty percent of them die. Back in the 1980's it was thought that cervical cancer was cause by the herpes simplex one virus, however, today we know that it is caused by one of the four major strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The porblem with this virus is that it has over a hundred strains but only a few of those strains are capable of causing cancer of the cervix.
In 2006, the research pharmaceutical company Merck discovered the HPV vaccine and it was eventually approved by the FDA and named Gardasil. This vaccine contains "virus like particles" of the HPV strains 5,11,16 and 18 and it has been proved that types 16 and 18 have cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. This vaccine has proved to be so great that many states in the United States are starting to mandate it for pre-teen girls, however is act is causing some parents and other gaurdians to lash out and fight against this mandation.
Many parents believe that this vaccine will promote sexual activity and promiscuity of their girls at an early age and a result refuse to get their child vaccinated. However, if they would step back and realize that young girls are going to do what they want regardless of their parents input and should vaccinate their child as a safety percaution they could prevent their child from obtain a serious form of cancer later on in their life.
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