Cervical cancer vaccine 'prevents male STD too'

A vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women has for the first time proven successful at preventing a sexually-transmitted disease in men, according to a new study.

Genital warts is a problem that is embarrassing and uncomfortable but not life-threatening.

The results are expected to bolster a likely bid by manufacturer Merck to begin marketing the vaccine to boys, experts say. Merck plans to ask the US government for that approval later this year.

“This opens the door to a wonderful opportunity to prevent illness,” said Anna Giuliano, a researcher who worked on the Merck-funded study and an epidemiologist at the H Lee Moffitt Cancer Centre in Tampa, Florida.

The results of the study will be presented at a medical conference in Europe today.

The focus was Merck’s vaccine, Gardasil, which is given in three doses over six months and costs about €280.

The vaccine targets the two types of HPV, or human papilloma virus, believed to be responsible for about 70% of cervical cancer cases, and two other types that cause most genital warts. HPV is spread through sex.

In 2006, the US government licensed the vaccine for use in girls and women aged nine to 26. Men and boys can spread the virus, but it was not licensed for them because there was no evidence it prevented disease in men.

Though about 40 other countries have approved the vaccine for males, there still is no medical proof Gardasil prevents penile cancer or other HPV-associated cancers in men. There also is no evidence the vaccine prevents the spread of HPV from men to women.

The new Merck study involved about 4,000 men and boys aged 16 to 26. The study was done in nearly 20 countries, and included more than 1,000 males in the US.

It showed the vaccine was 90% effective in preventing genital warts, with only 15 cases of persistent infection in a vaccinated group of males compared to 101 cases in a group that was given a fake vaccine.

The results were “very exciting”, but it’s not clear they will be enough to persuade many American families to get their teenage boys vaccinated, said Dr Maura Gillison, an HPV researcher at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the Merck study.

She noted that only one in four girls have got the vaccine so far, despite compelling medical studies that indicate the shots prevent female cancers.

“When parents are sitting in a room discussing with a paediatrician whether to vaccinate their child against anything, they’d like to know what the potential benefit is. A parent might say: ’I’m not inclined to vaccinate my child to prevent a benign genital wart'," she said.