The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a report on the status of research into therapeutic vaccines once morest the human papillomavirus (HPV) in order to boost the fight once morest this infection linked to cervical cancer, which kills some 350,000 women worldwide each year.
The report says there are currently regarding 20 vaccine candidates at different stages of development, with several already in clinical trials, and calls on researchers to ensure that their future cost will allow them to be used in developing countries, where 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur.
Although there are already preventive vaccines once morest HPV, there are still no therapeutic vaccines, meaning those that might be inoculated into people who are already infected to improve their defenses or even treat precancerous cells, given that cervical cancer is usually caused by a prolonged infection with this virus.
“Therapeutic HPV vaccines might be a key innovation that complements already available interventions, increasing options for millions of women who have already contracted the virus by reducing their risk of developing lethal cancers in the future,” WHO said.
The UN health agency has set a target of ensuring that 90% of women will receive preventive HPV vaccines by the end of this decade, treating the same percentage of those affected by cervical cancer and carrying out high-precision screening, including DNA analysis, on 70% of them.
In a century, these practices might save 62 million lives, according to WHO estimates, and figures indicate that one woman dies of cervical cancer every 90 seconds worldwide.
Every year, 660,000 women worldwide develop cervical cancer, and for them it is the fourth most common type of cancer, and is curable if diagnosed in its early stages.
With information from Alberto News
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2024-07-03 23:31:06
