If you could protect your daughter from becoming one of the 6.2 million women each year who become infected with a potentially cancer-causing virus, wouldn’t you do it? Gardasil, an FDA-approved vaccine, can help prevent young women from contracting certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV).

There are more than 100 different strains of HPV. Some strains, like those that can cause warts on your hands and feet, are relatively harmless.

The Gardasil vaccine helps prevent:

• HPV Types 16 and 18, responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases
• HPV Types 6 and 11, account for 90 percent of all genital wart occurrences

“Often, the body’s immune system eventually clears the virus and its symptoms. But occasionally HPV can linger and cause precancerous cells to develop in a woman’s cervix. If untreated, the abnormal cells may lead to cervical cancer,” says Colleen Kennedy, MD, UI obstetrician and gynecologist.

Because HPV has no cure, it is important for Gardasil to be administered to young girls before they become sexually active, says Kennedy. There is no treatment for the HPV virus, but treatment is available for the health problems it causes.

The vaccine is given as three injections over a six-month period. Girls who receive the vaccine should still get Pap tests to check for abnormal cervical cells every year, beginning three years after becoming sexually active.

How to avoid HPV and cervical cancer 

Best

• Get the Gardasil vaccination
• Have a Pap test once a year, beginning three years after becoming sexually active
• Practice abstinence

Better

• Be in a faithful, monogamous relationship
• Use a condom every time you have sex

Good

• Limit your number of sexual partners
• Choose a partner who has had few other partners