Sex and the vaccines

Women of Watkins Health Center discuss HPV and the vaccine Gardasil.

By Dylan Sands

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Prevention is the key, health professionals told students yesterday at a presentation about the sexually transmitted disease known as HPV.

The Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center and the Watkins Health Center presented “Critical Conversations: What Everyone Needs to Know about the HPV Vaccine” Tuesday afternoon. The presentation aimed at informing college women about the vaccine Gardasil and how it prevents HPV, or the human papillomavirus.

Kathy Guth, nurse practitioner at Watkins, studied the trial runs of Gardasil on female patients at KU. The University was one of 17 sites nationwide where the vaccine was studied before the Federal Drug Administration approved the drug. In 2000, the patients received the vaccine and were routinely checked for HPV. Six years later, the results were compiled and the vaccine proved useful.

“It was phenomenal how effective the vaccine was,” Guth said.

Watkins made Gardasil availabe last summer.

Guth said it was crucial for women to get vaccinated as soon as possible because HPV can lead to cervical cancer.

Kathy Rose-Mockry, program director of the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center, urged students to talk about the issue with friends and family.

“All of you that came today are already more knowledgeable about this than your friends,” Rose-Mockry said. “I encourage you to bring this issue up in your living room.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that there are over 100 types of HPV; 30 of those are transmitted sexually. Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV and at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women will get some form of HPV in their lives. Eighty percent of women will contract it before the age of 80.

“That’s a scary statistic,” said Mai Do, Marketing Coordinator for the Watkins. “You could have HPV and not even know it.”

The Gardasil vaccine comes in a series of three shots taken over several months. It protects the body against the four types of HPV that cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts.

May Davis, Clay Center sophomore, said she attended the presentation because she wanted to be more informed about such a serious subject. “I found out through my sorority that a lot of my friends have gotten the vaccine,” she said. “But nobody really wants to talk about it. No one says ‘let’s talk about vaginas on campus.’”

Aly Rodee, Wichita junior, also attended the event and said she is skeptical about the vaccine.

“It hasn’t been around very long, and they don’t know the long term affects yet,” she said. “I want to be 100 percent sure before I get something injected in my body.”

Several states are currently looking at legislation that would make Gardasil vaccines mandatory in women. Opponents of Gardasil say it sends the message that women should be sexually active. Mai Do said she wasn’t sure the legislation would pass in Kansas.

“It’s a controversial bill in conservative states like Kansas, because it involves admitting that young girls have sex,” she said. “It is very similar to other vaccinations, but when you throw sex in the mix, parents don’t want to go there.”

— Edited by Rachael Gray

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