In U.S., the Indianapolis House approved legislation that would encourage sixth grade girls to become vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease that may cause cervical cancer.
The House voted 81-to-14 for the bill, which would require most schools to give parents information about the link between human papillomavirus, or HPV, and cervical cancer.
It would also require most schools to give information about the availability of an HPV vaccine called Gardasil. The vaccine is made by Merck and was approved by the US government in June.
Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by human papillomavirus. This is a group of more than one hundred viruses, at least thirty-five of which can infect the genital tissues. HPV is spread by direct contact of infected tissue with uninfected tissue during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. An estimated 50 percent of sexually active adults have been infected with one or more of the HPV types that cause genital infections. At any time, an estimated 20 million Americans have genital HPV infections. About 5.5 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.