VOA常速英语:HPV疫苗接种 宜早不宜晚

Anytime you can fish is a good time. Fishing with Scott Woods is a way of relaxing. He didn’t have any risk factors that he knew of for cancer, so he ignored the lump on his neck until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. We’re seeing more and more younger healthier patients are not smokers or drinkers, obviously. It’s just HPV-related. Smoking and drinking can cause oral cancers, Woods’ cancer was caused by HPV, the human papilloma virus. Normally you think HPV, you think of women, cervical cancer. HPV does cause cervical cancer, but it’s a misconception that only women have to be concerned with HPV caused cancers. But big ones are the cervical cancer, other ones the oral pharyngeal cancer.

Oral pharyngeal cancers affect the head and neck. Woods’ cancer started in a tonsil. But there’s a vaccine that’s been around for more than a decade that can protect against the HPV virus. If all boys and girls received it, no one would get HPV caused cancers. Was that painful? No. The HPV vaccine is best when given to children before they’re sexually active, but teenagers and young adults can still benefit from the vaccine. Not everyone who gets the virus develops cancer, but it is a risk factor. Woods’ recovery was difficult. He had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but he’s now cancer-free. It’s a journey. I made it through. The vaccine didn’t exist when Woods was a kid, but he says if he had kids, he would get them vaccinated.
It’s a prevention. Get it. The HPV virus also causes half a million cases of cervical cancer each year. These are cancers no one needs to get.
Carol Pearson VOA news.