What about the Gardasil vaccine for boys and young men? Indeed, recently, the vaccine manufacturer announced that it was seeking FDA approval to use Gardasil to prevent genital warts and related conditions in males ages 9 to 26. There is noa priorireason to think the genders would react differently. If females and males are immunized, one would expect a reciprocal benefit to the population at large.
All in all, the development of an FDA-approved vaccine against HPV is a major milestone for public health. But there is an additional and worrisome turn of events in this story. Oral HPV infection is now believed to be a substantial risk factor for certain kinds of oropharyngeal cancers, that is, cancers that form in the middle portion of the throat, including the base of the tongue and, notably, the tonsils. This may partially explain why there is an increasing incidence of cancers in the tonsil and base of the tongue. One important research question is whether vaccines like Gardasil will have an impact on these trends.
HPV-associated oral carcinoma occurs to a higher degree in men and does so at a younger age and at a more advanced stage than non-HPV-associated oral carcinoma. Moreover, investigators from Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute recently published data suggesting that HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer is associated with more than 25 lifetime sex partners and more than six lifetime oral sex partners. These studies and others like them provide yet another reason to consider HPV vaccination in both females and males, since oropharyngeal cancers occur in both. If vaccination is as effective in preventing oral HPV infection as it is in preventing infection of the cervix, one may someday see a significant decrease in the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer in vaccinated populations. -
US News & World Report