Australian Doctor
16 November 2005
An unglamorous quest to discover why HIV-positive men were plagued with anal warts led Professor Ian Frazer to a hugely lauded scientific discovery — a vaccine against cervical cancer. By Bianca Nogrady.
PROFESSOR Ian Frazer radiates energy, albeit an energy tinged with impatience. He may be enthusiastic and talkative throughout this umpteenth media interview, but you can tell he really just wants to get back to his work.
That’s understandable — after all, not only has he led research that could eliminate the spectre of cervical cancer, but he is now on the verge of another breakthrough that has some touting him as Australia’s next Nobel laureate.
Described as “the common cold of sexual activity”, HPV infects an estimated 630 million women around the world, indirectly claiming the lives of about 288,000 each year.