{"id":40964,"date":"2024-05-19T03:12:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T21:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=40964"},"modified":"2025-04-25T08:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T02:44:57","slug":"hpv-vaccine-prevents-cervical-cancer-cases-in-deprived-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/hpv-vaccine-prevents-cervical-cancer-cases-in-deprived-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer cases in deprived groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is Cervical cancer?<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights of the study<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is reducing cases of cervical cancer. This reduction is happening across all socio-economic groups. Most cases are being prevented in more deprived groups. This information comes from a major study funded by Cancer Research UK.<\/li>\n<li>The researchers at the Queen Mary University of London carried out the longest follow-up on the effectiveness of the HPV vaccination programme in England.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is Cervical cancer?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Almost all cervical cancer cases are linked to certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus that is transmitted through sexual contact.<\/li>\n<li>The body\u2019s immune system usually gets rid of the HPV infection naturally within two years.<\/li>\n<li>However, in a small percentage of people the virus can linger over time and turn some normal cells into abnormal cells and then cancer.<\/li>\n<li>It is preventable as long as it is detected early and managed effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prevalence in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type and the second leading cause of cancer death in women of reproductive age (15-44) worldwide.<\/li>\n<li>According to the World Health Organization&#8217;s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), India accounts for approximately one-fifth of the global burden.<\/li>\n<li>India witnesses 1.23 lakh cases and approximately 67,000 deaths each year (one woman every eight minutes).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prevention<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Cervical cancer screening and vaccination are two effective preventive measures.<\/li>\n<li>There is still little awareness among women about this cancer prevention, and less than 10% of Indian women are screened.<\/li>\n<li>All women aged 30-49, regardless of symptoms, should be screened for cervical cancer and their adolescent daughters vaccinated against HPV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vaccines available in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>CERVAVAC is India\u2019s first indigenously developed vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. It has been developed by Serum Institute of India (SII).\n<ul>\n<li>It is a quadrivalent vaccine, meaning it is effective against at least four variants of cancer-causing Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).<\/li>\n<li>It is based on VLP (virus-like particles), similar to the hepatitis B vaccine, and provides protection by generating antibodies against the HPV protein.\n<ul>\n<li>VLP approach stimulates an immune response from the body resulting in production of antibodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Besides CERVAVAC, two vaccines licensed globally are available in India;\n<ul>\n<li>a quadrivalent vaccine (Gardasil, marketed by Merck) and<\/li>\n<li>a bivalent vaccine (Cervarix, marketed by Glaxo Smith Kline).\n<ul>\n<li>These vaccines are costly and hence are unaffordable for the vast majority of Indians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vaccine to be part of the universal immunisation programme<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>An affordable and indigenously developed HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer is now ready.<\/li>\n<li>It will likely be included by the Union government in its universal immunisation programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Key highlights of the study<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More cases were prevented in the most deprived group<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the study, the HPV vaccine is cutting cases of cervical cancer right across the socio-economic spectrum, with most cases being prevented in more deprived group.\n<ul>\n<li>Due to a typically higher incidence of cervical cancer in more deprived groups, researchers found that more cases were prevented in the most deprived group, compared to the least deprived group.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huge success of the school-based vaccination programme<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The study reflected the huge success of the school-based vaccination programme, showing that well-executed public health interventions can help to reduce health inequalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>HPV vaccination works<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Researchers found that over 12 years, the HPV vaccine reduced cervical cancer rates by nearly 90%.<\/li>\n<li>It also reduced pre-cancerous conditions by around 95%. This reduction was seen in women who received the vaccine at 12-13 years old in England.\n<ul>\n<li>The HPV vaccination programme was first introduced to England in 2008.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The study shows the vaccine is much more effective when given to children at 12-13 years old than later in life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What are Virus-like particles (VLPs)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Virus-like particles (VLPs) are molecules that resemble viruses but lack infectivity because of the absence of viral genetic material. They are usually protein multimers with structured, repetitive, high-density display of epitopes and thereby able to elicit a strong T- and B-cell\u2013mediated immune response.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is an intergovernmental agency that is part of the World Health Organization (WHO). The IARC&#8217;s mission is to research the causes of cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and develop scientific strategies for cancer control.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/hpv-vaccine-prevents-cervical-cancer-cases-in-deprived-groups-study\/article68186828.ece#:~:text=Due%20to%20a%20typically%20higher,12%2D18%20years%20in%20each\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer cases in deprived groups: study<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cervical cancer is a growth of cells that starts in the cervix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}