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Science – Health
Australia could become the first country to eradicate this highly contagious virus that affects 80% of badually active women and men once or more in their lifetime. And at home, how is it going?
According to Professor Squifflet, a gynecologist at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels, at least 75% of the Belgian population should be reached to obtain a collective immunity. "If all our young people were vaccinated, we could think of the elimination of the virus as in Australia".
Today, 1,094 cancers are linked to papillomavirus (HPV) per year in Belgium. If the measures announced by the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation move in the right direction, the knowledge of this virus and its consequences as well as the coverage rate remain a real challenge. However, HPV affects nearly 80% of badually active women and men once or more in their lifetime.
According to an IVOX study, only 28% of young people have already heard about HPV and know what it is, 25% have already heard about it but admit not to know more and almost 50% of them do not know have never heard of it! The knowledge of HPV, how to contract it and the risks involved are approximate and reveal a lack of important information about HPV and its vaccination.
The vagueness also seems to reign in terms of the consequences of HPV: 48% of young people say they know that HPV can cause cancer of the cervix but few speak of other consequences, only 7% evoke penile cancer and 6% the Oropharyngeal cancers. Only 11% know that HPV can cause bad warts.
HPV testing is complicated or non-existent for boys, and the condom only partially protects against this virus, the only way to eradicate it is vaccination, confirms the Australian Professor Suzanne Garland, expert in papillomavirus .
She will be visiting Belgium tomorrow and will share her knowledge. Australia has almost eradicated the virus thanks to high immunization coverage. "The HPV vaccine is distributed free in schools for young people aged 12 to 13, since 2007 for girls and since 2013 for boys. These efforts are paying off: over the last 10 years, among young Australian women aged 18 to 24, the incidence of HPV infections has risen from 22.7% to 1.1%! ", She says.
Concerning Belgium, Professor Squifflet considers the vaccination rate insufficient. "The aim is to reach 75% of the Belgian population to obtain a collective immunity for the strains in the vaccine. If all our young people were vaccinated against HPV, we could consider a decrease as drastic as that observed in Australia. "
CD.
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