FAQ’s on HPV VACCINE
1. How many types of HPV vaccines are there?
There are three types of HPV vaccines
a. Cervarix, it is a bivalent HPV vaccine, protecting against HPV type 16 and 18.
b. Gardasi (Silgard), this one is tetravalent, prevents type 6, 11, 16, 18.
c. Gardasil 9, it is a newer vaccine for the prevention of 9 types of HPV strains including the previous four types. It is not available in India.
2. What are the age group of the girls eligible for the vaccine? And what is the dose schedule?
It is given at the age of 9 to 10 years through 25 to 26 years, in few countries up to 45 years.
Mostly a three-dose schedule is there (0, 1 to 2 months, 6 month).
Two-dose schedule is recommended when given between the 9 to 14 years of age.
3. Is it advised for the prevention of other diseases other than cervical cancer?
Tetravalent and nonavalent vaccines prevent genital warts, anal and penile cancers. It gives protection against about 25% of vulval, vaginal and head and neck cancers too.
4. What are the common side effects of the vaccines?
No major side effects are reported except giddiness, nausea, vomiting, minor fainting attacks muscle and joint pain. Injection site pain can be seen in a few. With Gardasil, fainting is reported therefore it is advised to tell the person to remain in sitting or lying down position for 15 minutes after the injection.
5. What is the level of protection after vaccination?
100% of protection from Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia ( CIN ) 2, CIN 3, Adenocarcinoma in situ ( AIS ) and Cancer Cervix is shown in various studies, till date, in vaccinated people.
6. Why is adolescence the best age group for the vaccination ?
Adolescents are the group free of any HPV infections therefore they are better protected from the high risk HPV strains.
Immunity is better built after vaccination in this age group.
FAQ’s on ZIKA Virus
1. What is the Zika Viral Fever?
Zika viral fever is caused by the Zika virus.
It is spread by the female Aedes mosquitoes (A. aegypti and
A. albopictus). It was first isolated in Zika forest of Uganda, hence it name the same.
2. What are the most common symptoms?
It is very much similar to mild dengue fever.
There are mild or often no symptoms at all.
3. So why such a hue and cry over this?
Zika in pregnant women is associated with Microcephaly. It has been found to be associated with Gullian-Barre syndrome in adults. It can also spread as a sexually transmitted disease.
4. What is the risk of Microcephaly and other problems in pregnancy?
Microcephaly in a baby results in a smaller head. A baby born with microcephaly may not have any other problems but in few studies, it has been noted that infant’s brain may not have developed fully and can have many problems later in life.
A pregnant mother can have pre-term labor, intrauterine fetal growth restriction and rare risk of intrauterine fetal death. Perinatal morbidity and mortality of the baby is quite high.
5. What is the Indian connect?
According to government reports, as on March 2016, no case of Zika has been reported in India.
Bharat biotech, Hyderabad has claimed to have a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the dreaded mosquito-borne Zika virus.