Washington: A team of researchers has found that only two-doses of a vaccine to children, especially girls, aged nine to 14 can protect them from Genital warts – the most common type of sexually transmitted infection and cancers.
The study was published online in the STD journal.
Boston University’s medical center researchers found that the two-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine can provide protection against genital warts.
The findings indicated that the rate of genital warts for all girls dropped significantly from 2007 to 2013 and attribute the trend to the wide distribution of the HPV vaccine.
“The CDC and WHO based the new two dose schedule primarily on immunogenicity results, but there was very little research on how effective that recommendation has been,” said lead study author Rebecca Perkins.
“This study validates the new recommendations and allows us to confidently move forward with the two dose schedule for the prevention of genital warts,” Perkins added.
The team looked at nearly 4,00,000 girls from around the country to find the rate of genital warts based on the number of vaccine doses received.
They found that receiving two or three doses of the vaccine was effective.
Both provided significantly more protection against genital warts than one dose or not receiving the vaccine at all.
The vaccine is recommended to prevent HPV infections and its associated diseases, including cancers and genital warts.
Recently, the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) updated their recommendations from a three to two dose vaccine schedule for girls and boys aged nine to 14.(ANI)