Vaccination against cervical cancer: a myth or reality?

Oncological diseases are becoming more frequent, and it is very difficult to combat them. Their favorable outcome is possible only if the tumor is detected in the early stages, and the operations are always large and often accompanied by the removal of a large amount of tissue, or even the entire organ. Often, such operations have to be repeated, and concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy courses have a devastating effect on the entire body. In addition, an unsuccessful operation can only exacerbate the course of the disease, in particular, promote metastasis. The well-known assertion that any disease is much easier to prevent than cure, here is better than ever. Unfortunately, it is not yet known what causes the majority of cancer diseases, only the risk factors have been studied more or less, but it is possible to say with certainty what exactly provokes their appearance about some tumors. One of them is cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is caused by some strains of the human papilloma virus, quite, by the way, common. Its presence does not always cause an oncological disease, but the occurrence of this type of cancer in the overwhelming number of cases is due to its presence in the body of a woman. On the body of men, this virus does not have such destructive effects, and they serve only as its carriers. Barrier means of contraception have shown their ineffectiveness in relation to this causative agent of the disease due to its small size and the ability to easily penetrate the smallest pores of any material. A careful study of this virus led to the creation of a so-called vaccination against cervical cancer, that is, a vaccine that helps a woman to resist this dangerous parasite. 16 and 18 serotypes of the virus are considered dangerous, and there are about 130 of them, but vaccinations against uterine cancer usually contain antigens to these two, and some to two more, through the fault of which genital warts or condylomas arise in 90% of cases.

Vaccinations against cervical cancer have been included in the compulsory free vaccination program in many countries around the world, where girls are given the vaccine before the onset of puberty to protect them from a dangerous virus at the time of starting active sexual activity. In our country, inoculations against cervical cancer are still paid. It usually takes three vaccinations for six months - two and six months after the first vaccination. This provides reliable protection against the virus for a period of about 5 years.

In some countries, vaccinations against cervical cancer are not only for girls, but also for boys. This seemingly strange idea is actually very justified, since it allows to significantly reduce the carrier of the virus in the population and thereby sharply reduce its prevalence, and, consequently, the incidence.

Nevertheless, there are quarrels about this vaccine: some believe that the statement that this virus causes the development of cancer is premature, to put it mildly, since the level of carriage of papillomavirus in the human population is high enough. This makes it possible to doubt whether a large percentage of carriers of this virus among cervical cancer patients is associated with its pathogenicity, or such figures result from the fact that most people as such are its carriers, and these values are comparable. Some researchers even call the excitement around the vaccination against cervical cancer a grandiose scam of the century. In fact, among the total number of carriers of papillomavirus, which is really very large, the proportion of carriers of oncogenic strains is small, and among oncological patients it is 70-75%.