# Cervical cancer vaccine **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2002, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749 "2002-11-20T16:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/1 "2002-11-20T16:13:14Z")
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2495029.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2495029.stm) Not at all pointless or mundane. > [@](#): > > “These results look very, very good. People have been trying to get a vaccine for years and years,” she told BBC News Online. > > “This is really the holy grail of cancer research. It is very exciting.” Now according to the story it would only work on girls who **have not** been sexually active so unfortunately that rules out a lot of females but it still welcome news. Hopefully it proves to be as good as it sounds. Still waiting for the testicular cancer one. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/2 "2002-11-20T20:43:43Z")
Having just returned home a couple of hours ago from cervical cancer surgery, I say please, please, please shout this one to the skies if you get any more info! So how can it only work on those who have not been sexually active? I mean, not infected with HPV: that would be understandable. But not sexually active? How does that make scientific sense? (ANd no, I’m not just having sour grapes, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/3 "2002-11-21T07:24:53Z")
Yeah, that is weird. I think it’s just poor writing. If you’re sexually active but have yet to be infected, it should still work. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/4 "2002-11-21T11:26:27Z")
**Smeghead** that looks like what they meant. > [@](#): > > The vaccine would be given to teenage girls. It would only work in females who have not yet become sexually active. > > This is because HPV is transmitted through sexual intercourse. So I’d assume if there you have been active but not picked up HPV then you’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/5 "2002-11-21T11:28:12Z")
Oh and all the best to **Eva**. Hope you’re feeling ok and everything works out 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cervical-cancer-vaccine/137749/6 "2002-11-21T16:08:16Z")
Thanks \*\*yojimbo; \*\* the surgery in my case (detected early; noninvasive cancer) was rather minor, something like having a skin cancer removed, except internal. Local anaesthesia, in and out (so to speak) inside an hour. So physically I’m feeling fine and never needed anything stronger than ibuprofen, and there is a 99% chance I will be perfectly fine and the cancer will never recur. I did take the rest of the week off, though, because the whole thing is psychologically rather unsettling. However, ladies take note: as I posted in my other thread on the subject, if the cancer isn’t detected until it invades the cervix or uterus, or (God forbid) metastasizes into other organs, there is a **7%** chance of 5-year survival. So have a Pap smear EVERY year! It’s very, very treatable if caught early; most mortalities are in women who have either never had a Pap smear, or who have gone 5 years or more without one.