The CDC reports a striking decline in the prevalence of HPV infection since vaccination began in 2006. The vaccine has decreased the incidence of the cancer-causing virus among teenage girls by a shocking 56%, according to a study released on June 12, 2013 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Human papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted infection that can cause genital warts, cervical cancer, and throat cancer. The CDC recommends that all girls get the vaccine at age 11 or 12 to protect themselves against cancers that can appear 20 to 40 years later. The vaccine is now recommended for boys as well.
About 79 million Americans, most in their late teens and early 20s, are infected with HPV and each year about 14 million people are newly infected, 19,000 women in the US develop cervical cancer caused by these infections.