Yesterday's The New York Times underscored the risks associated with anal cancer — facts largely unknown to many U.S. adults.
In December, the FDA extended the approved use of the HPV vaccine Gardasil to include prevention against anal cancer, which is diagnosed in approximately 2,000 men and 3,260 women annually and kills 720 people a year. Risk factors for the disease include a medical history of cervical cancer or other gynecological malignancies, a suppressed immune system, atypical Pap smear results, or testing positive for HPV 16 or 18. We now know that HPV causes oral cancers as well.
“HPV immunization rates are still very low, and these risk factors must be more widely publicized so that children are routinely administered the HPV vaccine in order to prevent these cancers in the future,” advises ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.