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The only cancer vaccine does not exist. However, vaccination against cancer of the cervix and other HPV-related cancers is available with the HPV vaccine. What many do not know: There is another vaccine that protects against a specific type of cancer.
Cancer is extremely diverse. Virtually all organs can be affected, and even within individual tumor entities, there are innumerable variants. That's why there is not a single cancer vaccine. But the girls have been vaccinated against cervical cancer for more than ten years. This tumor is almost 100% triggered by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Recently, the HPV vaccine is also recommended for boys in Germany. Experts believe that this can interrupt the transmission and fewer women later develop cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine not only prevents cancer of the cervix
In addition, human papillomaviruses trigger several other types of bad and bad tumors such as penile carcinomas. Much of the cancer of the head and neck is also due to HPV infection. In this regard, the HPV vaccine protects against a range of cancers. Experts like Harald zur Hausen consider vaccination of boys and men as very useful and welcome the recent recommendation of the Standing Committee on Immunization (STIKO), which has given the go-ahead.
However, the HPV vaccine was not the first cancer vaccine. In fact, the vaccine against hepatitis B (HBV) also protects against cancer, namely liver cancer. "The HBV vaccine was the first" real "cancer vaccine," says Prof. Dr. med. Eckart Schott of Charity. The vaccine is important because chronic hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis and possibly to liver cancer.
The HBV vaccine was the first "real" cancer vaccine
The fact that the HBV vaccine effectively protects against liver cancer has been demonstrated in Taiwan. There, in 1984, the first major vaccination program against hepatitis B was introduced. "Even 15 years after the introduction of the vaccine, the rate of liver cancer in children had halved," reports Schott, a liver cancer specialist.
In Taiwan, as in other Asian countries, hepatitis B is usually transmitted from mother to child at birth. As a result, liver cancer often develops at a young age. In Germany, however, hepatocellular carcinoma is more a cancer of old age or alcoholics.
Children vaccinated against HPV and HBV
German children have been vaccinated against hepatitis B since 1995. Only adults with a particularly high risk of infection have adult claims. For example, people who exhibit high-risk badual behavior or people who are professionally or family-related with people infected with hepatitis B.
If your child is vaccinated against hepatitis B and HPV, it protects you against a variety of cancers. A vaccine against the Epstein Barr virus is currently being researched. The virus that triggers Pfeiffer's glandular fever is highly suspected to be responsible for Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Photography: © guerrieroale – Fotolia.com
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