SMU Memorial Health Center is now offering the newly FDA-approved HPV vaccine called Gardasil. Nationally, about 70 percent of sexually active female students coming in for their yearly gynecological exam on college campuses test positive at some time for human papillomavirus, according to Dr. Nancy Merrill of the Health Center.
The vaccine was approved this summer and is recommended to girls from ages 9 to 26. The vaccine targets the four major types of HPV. Two of the strains cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer, while the other two cause about 90 percent of genital warts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, but individuals do not have to partake in sexual intercourse to contract it. “Most people think outercourse is safe, but you can get HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases from outercourse. This means that even virgins can contract HPV,” Merrill said. She described outercourse as any genital contact in which penetration doesn’t occur.
The high-risk strains may cause cervical cancer, but they do not cause warts. Males and females carrying high-risk strains may not know they have the disease unless they have been tested. The SMU Health Center offers the HPV test.
“This is why the disease is so common; most people get it from those who do not even know they have it. It is a silent killer,” Merrill said.
Cervical cancer is usually late onset. Most cervical cancer does not appear in women who contracted HPV in their late teens and early 20s until they are 35 or older. Out of the roughly 10,000 causes of cervical cancer that occur every year, 3,700 women die from the disease. It is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among women around the world.
SMU Health Center Co-Director of Nursing, Madge Earnshaw, works with Merrill on HPV statistics for women who visit the Health Center. She emphasized that college women should have a pap smear once a year. The test detects abnormal cell growth, which is a sign of HPV. The test offered at the Health Center came out three years ago. The HPV test detects if someone has a high or low-risk strain of HPV.
If someone tests positive for HPV, the Health Center recommends a colposcopy, a microscopic examination of the cervix. But, the vaccine offers hope to those who have already contracted HPV.
“If you already have HPV you can get the vaccine, because you might not yet have the strains the vaccine guards against,” Merrill said. Strains that do not clear up on their own should be monitored for cervical cancer.
Merrill predicts it will take three to four months for insurance agencies to approve coverage. However, the Health Center is giving the vaccine at cost to help students and compete with other health facilities giving out the vaccine.
SMU Health Center Nurse Charlotte Rohr said the vaccine comes in a series of three shots and is $150 per dose. The second shot is given two months after the first dose and the third shot six months after the first dose.
According to the CDC, there have not been any serious side effects from the vaccine.
Students don’t need to make an appointment, but the Health Center recommends they call ahead to make sure it’s in stock.
If it’s not, students can place a special order, which takes about two days to arrive.
“I strongly encourage women who are sexually active or are thinking about becoming sexually active to get the HPV vaccine. It is one more way to prevent a totally preventable disease,” said Merrill.
Merrill also said that statistics state anyone having three or more partners (or if any one of their partners has had three or more partners) is at a 70 percent chance of contracting HPV. This also applies for virgins partaking in outercourse.
Students interested in more information on the vaccine talk to Dr. Merrill at the SMU Health Center by calling (214) 768-2141.
Students can also visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.tell-someone.com.