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By Anne Coyle | May 5, 2010

The human papilloma virus is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. A new Brown study may help immunize an especially vulnerable population: incarcerated adolescent girls.

Six million Americans are expected to become infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) annually, and an estimated 50 percent of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives.

Given these rates of infection and the availability of several FDA-approved vaccines for girls and women, a research team from Miriam Hospital and Brown University – Courtney E. Henderson, administrative director for the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences; Josiah D. Rich, professor of medicine and community health; and Michelle A. Lally, director of the HIV Vaccine Clinical Trials Unit for Brown University/The Miriam Hospital – decided to study the vaccination rates of girls and young women in the juvenile justice system. Their study, which appears in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, is the first nationwide review of HPV vaccinations among this population.

Japan Today

Friday 03rd September, 04:53 AM JST

OKAYAMA —

Only 4% of about 200 school nurses think it appropriate to inoculate girls against cervical cancer at school, an Okayama University survey showed Thursday, apparently mirroring the teachers’ concerns about their ability to deal with possible side effects.

Mikiya Nakatsuka, a professor at the university and member of the survey team, said, ‘‘I suppose many nursing teachers seem to feel uneasy about providing explanations (about the disease or group vaccination) to parents or coping with side effects.”