HPV vaccine prevents anal cancer, too, Desperate Housewives' Marcia Cross reminds us - USA TODAY
HPV vaccine prevents anal cancer, too, Desperate Housewives' Marcia Cross reminds us - USA TODAY |
- HPV vaccine prevents anal cancer, too, Desperate Housewives' Marcia Cross reminds us - USA TODAY
- The HPV Vaccine Is A Cancer Vaccine, Not A Sex Vaccine - Forbes
- Dr. Roach: People of all ages are susceptible to HPV infection - LubbockOnline.com
| Posted: 06 Jun 2019 12:00 AM PDT CLOSE  "Desperate Housewives" star Marcia Cross said her anal cancer could be linked to her husband's throat cancer diagnosis in 2009. USA TODAY Girls, boys, young men and women, parents: the HPV vaccine helps to prevent cervical, anal, penile, vulvar, throat and esophageal cancers. The news Wednesday that former "Desperate Housewives" actress Marcia Cross may have gotten anal cancer from the human papillomavirus and her husband who had throat cancer about a decade ago, provides a Hollywood health lesson on the importance of the controversial HPV vaccine. Here's what you need to know: Q: How common is HPV? A: HPV is very common and nearly everyone who is sexually active and doesn't get the vaccine will get infected with it at some point in their lives, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world, but it can also be spread skin-to-skin. Nearly 80 million Americans — most in their late teens and early 20s — have HPV, the CDC says. Q: What's the link between HPV, warts and cancer? A: HPV can lead to cancer, but the infections usually go away by themselves. About 10 to 20% of people who aren't vaccinated against it, have HPV, DC says. The vaccination can also prevent genital warts, which CDC says do not lead to cancer. Low-risk types of HPV can cause warts, while the high risk types can cause cancers. More than 90% of anal cancers are caused by HPV. Dr. Benigno Varela, a gastroenterologist with the Gastroenterology Center of CT, says the strains of HPV that lead to anal warts are different than the ones linked to anal cancer, but "patients who do have anal warts are more likely to also have the (HPV) strains that lead to anal cancer." Vaginal, genital and anal warts are also so close in proximity that people are likely to have been exposed all strains of HPV, he says. Q: Isn't the HPV vaccine for young girls to prevent cervical cancer? The CDC recommends the vaccine for girls and young women age 11 to age 26 and males 11 to 21. It protects against cervical cancer as well as other cancers that can affect men. Q: I'm a one-partner woman (or man). Why do I need the vaccine? A: Even monogamous married couples can pass HPV to each other contracted years or decades earlier. Cross told CBS This Morning on Wednesday that doctors suspect her cancer and her husband Tom Mahoney's throat cancer came from the same type of HPV. It can be transferred through vaginal or anal intercourse, oral sex or other skin-to-skin contact. Condoms are about 70% effective in preventing the spread, the CDC says. Read more: Marcia Cross wants to destigmatize anal cancer, says hers was linked to husband's battle Q: You don't hear much about anal cancer? Why? Thank you! You're almost signed up for Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. A: It's extremely rare and it's also down there. Cross told CBS This Morning that it was hard for her to even say the word "anal" or "anus" until recently. Besides, it wasn't too long ago that women didn't even talk about having breast cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 8,580 new cases of anal cancer in the U.S., including 5,620 in women and 2,960 in men. An estimated 1,160 of these people will die. Almost all cases of anal cancer are in people 35 years of age or older. Anal cancer may be rare, but Dr. Patrick Boland, a medical oncologist with Buffalo-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, says he's seen several patients with new diagnoses in the last two weeks alone. Q: How would I know if I had anal cancer? A: Most cases of anal cancer are caught early because of anal bleeding or tenderness and pain. After all, there are a lot of nerve endings in the region, notes Boland. But CDC says HPV and anal cancer generally do not cause symptoms in the very early stages. Other symptoms include warts that itch or bleed in the anal canal or a hard lump that appears to increase in size, says the CDC. Q: What should I do if I'm worried I might have anal cancer? A: There are no strict guidelines currently for screening for anal HPV, says Varela. Those with HIV — even if they are on antiretroviral drugs, which don't reduce the risk of anal cancer — should consider being screened, he says. So should men who have sex with men, women who have had HPV or HPV-related warts or cervical dysplasia and anyone with anal warts be screened for anal cancer, Varela says. Prevention, however, is the place to start. "The biggest thing as a society we can do is impress about the importance of HPV vaccination," says Boland. "This is a preventive cancer vaccine so I'm glad it's in the news to spread awareness." CLOSE Federal health officials from the Center for Disease Control report that nearly half of American men and women under 60 are infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, putting them at risk for certain cancers. USA TODAY Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/06/06/hpv-anal-cancer-marcia-cross-tom-mahoney-throat-cancer/1365580001/  |
| The HPV Vaccine Is A Cancer Vaccine, Not A Sex Vaccine - Forbes Posted: 07 Jun 2019 09:01 PM PDT  Marcia Cross, actress best known for her work on the hit television show Desperate Housewives, recently revealed that she is being treated for anal cancer, which is seen in less than 1% of cancer cases each year. The actress wanted to share her story, not only to raise awareness of this rare cancer, which may go undetected well after the cancer develops, but also to bring the importance of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to the public. Just as her husband, Tom Mahoney's, throat cancer, diagnosed in 2009, was caused by HPV, so is her anal cancer. Cancers related to HPV infections are becoming more widely recognized, and, thanks to destigmatizing cancers of the genital tract and lower gastrointestinal tract, these cancers are being detected earlier and earlier. The actress's cancer was discovered when she had no symptoms, but was having a routine gynecologic check-up. Typically, one thinks of gynecologic exams to include something called a pap smear, where a sampling of cells are taken from the cervix, looking for pre-cancerous or cancerous cells, infections (including HPV), or visible or palpable masses of the cervix, uterus, ovaries, vagina, and vulva. In addition, a rectal examination can be performed (by a gynecologist or primary care physician) to evaluate for masses, but even more informative, these rectal examinations can be performed to test for occult blood (occult in this case meaning no obvious signs of bleeding) in the gastrointestinal tract. This simple screening test, known as FOBT, or fecal occult blood test, where a sampling of the fluid from the gloved finger from a rectal exam is placed onto a cassette, and a "positive" indicates blood somewhere in the lower intestines. It has been one of the most widely used early screening tests for colon cancers, which often go undetected for months or even years before symptoms develop. A positive FOBT may indicate something relatively minor, such as internal hemorrhoids, benign polyps, or anal fissures, to more severe problems such as colorectal or anal cancers. A positive FOBT may be the only abnormality, with no symptoms or history of bleeding, but it should lead to further evaluation, including colonoscopy. While colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, anal cancer is much less common. But unlike colorectal cancers, it is more likely that anal cancers will be due to HPV infections. In a prior Forbes article, the importance of the HPV vaccine reducing cancers not only of the cervix, but also of the throat, was described. In addition, HPV in the female genital tract can be transmitted from a pregnant mother to the fetus. An entity called RRP, or recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, is an HPV-based disease of infants and children, with warts in the airways leading to airway blockage, breathing problems, and a lifetime of surgeries to remove the warts on a regular basis. There continues to be debate on the implications and importance of pre-teen girls and boys receiving the HPV vaccine, as many have erroneously thought that receiving the vaccine is an entree into early sexual activity. No study has demonstrated this. However, there is already strong evidence that providing the vaccine is lowering the incidence of cervical cancer. If the HPV vaccine is administered more routinely, it will ideally lead to reduction in other cancers, including throat cancers and anal cancers.  |
| Dr. Roach: People of all ages are susceptible to HPV infection - LubbockOnline.com Posted: 14 Jun 2019 05:34 PM PDT Dear Dr. Roach: I read your recent column stating that the HPV vaccine is recommended up to age 45. Are people older than 45 years no longer susceptible to HPV? Asking for a 52-year-old friend (who thinks he's Wolverine). -- C.F. Answer: Wolverine has a mutant healing ability (that's how he was able to survive having his bones replaced with adamantium), so he has nothing to worry about. However, non-mutants do have to worry about HPV, which can come from any kind of skin-to-skin contact with a person who has HPV. Having the virus often means having warts, but sometimes people can have contagious HPV without having any visible lesion. It's been estimated that 90% of people with HPV don't know they have it. People of any age are susceptible to HPV. Most people have been exposed by age 45, which is why the recommendations are the way they are now, but vaccination might make sense in some situations. The clearest example is someone who has had very few sexual partners and is about to become more sexually active (for example, a person recently divorced or widowed). Although the vaccine is not indicated by the Food and Drug Administration in this situation and the person is likely going to have to pay out of pocket, it might still be worth it to get the vaccine to reduce the risk of acquiring a new sexually transmitted HPV infection. I received several letters from people who acquired new genital warts in just this situation who were upset that their doctor did not offer the vaccine. If people have already been exposed to HPV, the vaccine will not harm them. In fact, there is some anecdotal evidence that the vaccine might help people with difficult-to-treat warts by boosting the immune system specifically for HPV. Dr. Roach Writes: A recent column on fructose malabsorption in adults may have been confusing. I also mentioned the condition hereditary fructose intolerance, which is a very different condition from the fructose malabsorption I discussed. HFI is a potentially serious disease, which is usually diagnosed in children and is often unrecognized. It is caused by deficiency of an enzyme called fructose-1-phosphate aldolase, isozyme b. This disorder is diagnosed through sophisticated testing or by genetic analysis. Treatment is complete elimination of fructose from the diet, which is a difficult task. Fructose malabsorption in adults is a much milder condition. As I stated, it's treated by avoiding large amounts of fructose by itself (such as in honey, fructose-sweetened foods and fruits containing high net amounts of fructose, such as apples, pears, sweet cherries, prunes, and dates), and avoiding the artificial sweetener sorbitol. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu. 2019 North America Syndicate Inc.  |
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