New York: Preventing HPV

New York legislators recently added five seats to the state's Breast Cancer Detection and Education Program for cervical cancer experts. They are charged with improving awareness and prevention of the cancer, which is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervical cancer is easily prevented and diagnosed, said Dr. Richard Waldman, a Syracuse gynecologist and chairperson of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Initial data on Merck & Co.'s HPV vaccine is also promising, said Waldman. Once it reaches the market, Waldman said New York would be ahead of the game with experts on board who will already have grappled with whom to recommend the vaccine, when, and at whose expense. Until then, prevention efforts are aimed at educating young women that they are at increased risk for HPV the younger they begin having sex and the more sex partners they have.

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