Seattle Schools Community Forum

  Update : SPS did get back to me - the HPV vaccination is available at every health center in SPS.  Really good news. end of update I've noticed - in print and on tv - that the CDC is pushing the HPV vaccine with a new emphasis on the issues for boys as well as girls. Official handout from the CDC. Many people think the HPV vaccine only protects girls, but this vaccine protects boys against certain HPV-related cancers, too! Girls aren’t the only ones affected by HPV, also known as human papillomavirus.  HPV is common in both males and females. Every year, over 9,000 males are affected by cancers caused by HPV infections that don’t go away. HPV can cause cancers of the anus, mouth/throat (oropharynx), and penis in males.

From the NY Times, a story about a CDCP  advisory committee recommending vaccinating boys and young men against human papillomavirus ( HPV ). The committee recommended that boys ages 11 and 12 should be vaccinated. It also recommended vaccination of males ages 13 through 21 who had not already had all three shots. Vaccinations may be given to boys as young as 9 and to men between the ages of 22 and 26. HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease — between 75 percent and 80 percent of females and males in the United States will be infected at some point in their lives. Most will overcome the infection with no ill effects. But in some people, infections lead to cellular changes that cause warts or cancer, including cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancers in men and women. A growing body of evidence suggests that HPV also causes throat cancers in men and women as a result of oral sex. And not to get too graphic here, folks, but for those...