Mass vaccination has reduced the incidence of genital warts by 60%: Report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJul 5 2010

Genital warts, commonly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) are on the decline after routine vaccination of Australian women with a vaccine against HPV. The sexual partners of these women are also beneficiaries of the vaccine.

The study was conducted by the University of NSW and it found that since the government-funded vaccination program was launched in mid-2007 there has been a 60% decline in the incidence of these warts. The vaccine (Gardasil) is given to women aged between 12 and 26 to protect them from four strains of HPV that have been linked to cervical cancer and genital warts.

The vaccine programme successfully covered 80% of the target population. Even heterosexual men have reaped a 30% benefit from this vaccination programme. The decline was not seen in women over 27 who did not receive the vaccine. Researchers pooled data from eight sexual health clinics Australia-wide, covering 110,000 new patients and the period from 2004 to 2009.

Authors of the study, Andrew Grulich and Basil Donovan from the university's National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, enthused over the “impact” of the vaccine programme on the population as a whole. Professor Donovan said, “Genital warts are distressing to the patient as well as being difficult and expensive to treat… While we knew from clinical trials that the vaccine was highly effective, Australia is the first country in the world to document a major benefit for the population as a whole.”

The research will be presented by Professor Andrew Grulich this week at the International HPV Conference in Montreal.