Long reserved for girls, the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is now extended in France to boys. This expansion is necessary both to protect them against certain types of cancer and, ultimately, to hope to completely eliminate these diseases, writes AFP.
In France, HPV vaccination is recommended for girls aged between 11 and 14 since 2007, and for boys of the same age since 2021.
A free and generalized vaccination program for students in the 5th year of high school will start on October 2 in certain regions. It will be preceded by a vaccination communication campaign starting on Monday.
Every year in France, HPV, short for human papilloma virus, is responsible for more than 6,000 new cases of cancer, most often of the cervix, which causes 1,100 deaths per year, or of the vulva or vagina, but also of the ENT sphere, the anus or the penis.
A recent study published in The Lancet showed that, at some point, 31% of men over the age of 15 are infected with an HPV-type virus. More importantly, one in five men (21%) is a carrier of oncogenic HPV, i.e. potentially cancerous.
Although the most affected men are between the ages of 25 and 29 (35%), all sexually active men are “a major reservoir of genital HPV infections,” the study continues.
“This Lancet meta-analysis confirms empirical and theoretical elements: the HPV virus is found everywhere and is highly transmissible,” Emmanuel Ricard, spokesman for the Ligue contre le cancer and public health doctor, told AFP.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cited in The Lancet, in 2018 approximately 69,400 cases of cancer in men caused by HPV were registered worldwide.
The first obvious benefit of vaccinating boys is that the injection directly protects them against cancers and warts in the anogenital sphere (penis and anus), for which the effectiveness of the vaccine has already been established.
Another expected benefit is “a probable protection against HPV-induced ENT cancers, which are more common in men,” Judith Mueller, an epidemiologist, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP) and researcher, told AFP. at the Pasteur Institute.
Vaccination of young boys, future sexual partners and wives should also reduce the risk of transmission of these viruses.
In practical terms, “gender-neutral vaccination recommendations will be easier to promote,” says researcher Judith Mueller: “Communication no longer needs to be just for girls, but just for young people.”
According to the researcher, vaccinating boys is all the more important as the current coverage “is not yet optimal”. By the end of 2022, 48% of girls and 13% of boys aged 15 had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“Vaccinating boys will clearly have an impact on women’s health by accelerating the reduction in cervical cancer risk,” says Mueller. “With good information to families, future campaigns in secondary schools have the potential to increase vaccination coverage among girls and boys to a level that will provide significant protection.”
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2023-09-02 08:28:30
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