Written by Courtney Bauer
According to the CDC the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause penile, anal, head, and neck cancer in men. It is also a leading cause of genital warts. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. There is no HPV test for men. There is also no cure for HPV. HPV is spread by skin to skin sexual contact. Therefore, it cannot be fully prevented with condoms because condoms do not always cover all of the skin that is coming into contact with another person. This is the bad news.
The good news is that Michael Hall (Health Services) on South Campus is having an HPV vaccine clinic Wednesday December 1st and Tuesday December 2nd. They are giving the vaccine to male and female students twenty six years old and younger. If your insurance does not cover the vaccine Michael Hall has a supply they can give away for free. This is not a walk in clinic you must make an appointment by calling (716) 829-3316.
The vaccine that will be given is the Gardasil vaccine. This vaccine protects people against four strains of HPV. Two of the strains cause the majority of genital warts. The other two strains can cause cancer. The vaccine cannot cure someone if they have already caught one of these strains, but it can protect them if they have not. You can still get the vaccine even if you are already sexually active because you may not have been exposed to these strains of HPV yet so you can still be protected.
No comments:
Post a Comment