Dog owners, beware!!! The Arizona Humane Society issued a valley-wide warning about two new strain of Distemper disease, a deadly disease for man’s best friend. If you want to help protect your dog, make sure his vaccination is up to date. Many people ignore their own annual checkups and biannual dentist visits. So, it is easy to ignore the recommended vet visits. But this can be dangerous especially since Distemper disease is very easily spread among pets.

According to the Arizona Humane Society, there is not known cure for this deadly disease, which starts as a respiratory infection and spreads quickly throughout the body. Distemper spreads among dogs just as fast as the flu spreads among humans, especially in communal areas for dogs like dog parks, dog spas, and more. Typically, an increased number of cases of the disease are observed during the spring due to increases in the number of puppy litters. However, signs of the condition have been appearing much sooner and cases have spread as far away as Ohio and Georgia.  Dr. Bradley, veterinary and member of the Arizona Humane Society stated that this was not considered an outbreak as of yet, but the number of cases is noticeably on the rise.

In the past, the human papillomavirus, the most commonly spread STD, has been linked to cervical cancer. In order to protect themselves, girls as young as 9 have been vaccinated with shots meant to prevent HPV. Also, using condoms during sex has been a must for all those who have not been vaccinated. Nowadays, as it turns out, cervical cancer is not the only condition to fear if you are a woman who has been diagnosed with HPV. Add oral cancer to the list.

Oral cancer used to be the disease to fear if you smoked or drunk large amounts of alcohol on a regular basis. But a new study has now discovered that HPV-positive tumors are the cause of a majority of oral cancer cases, approximately 70%. Researchers from the Ohio State University and the National Cancer Institute were in charge of the study that was printed in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The researchers stated that if trend continues, within a decade oral cancer will become the main HPV related cancer for both men and women.

There are nearly 10,000 new cases of oropharyngeal cancer every year and the rates have increased by 28% since 1988. Even though over the past few years the numbers of smokers in the U.S has declined causing rates of most types of tongue and throat cancers to decline, the rates of this particular type of cancer continue to rise. HPV plays a role in the increase.  

The National Cancer Institute forecast that in 2011 over 12,700 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer. Also, the Institute forecast that over 4,300 women will die from the disease. The Human Papillomavirus  is linked to high risk for cervical cancer cases. HPV is the most commonly transmitted sexually disease. There are over 150 different types of HPV but of these, two strains of the virus, more specific HPV 16 and 18, are linked to over 70% of cervical cancer cases. There are two different vaccines that can prevent these two types of HPV. These vaccines are Gardasil® and Cerverix®. Gardasil® is also helps against HPV type 6, 11, 31, and 9.
The Center for Disease Control continues to recommend Gardasil® for HPV prevention. Gardasil® is a 3 dose vaccine recommended for girls starting from the age of 9 but is mostly administered in girls between the ages of 11 to 12. If you are between the ages of 13 and 26 and did not get the injection as a young girl, do not worry, there are catch-up vaccinations you can get.
A new study was just published by the National Cancer Institute in cooperation with scientists from Costa Ricca and Netherlands which suggests that 2 doses of the vaccine might be just as effective as the three doses received when being vaccinated with Gardasil® and Ceverix®.  The study was conducted on 7,500 women from Costa Rica who were randomly assigned to receive either three doses of Cerverix® or three doses of vaccine against Hepatitis A. out of the 7,500 women, only 20% got all three doses either because they were found to have cervical problems or because they got pregnant. The scientists followed all women and at the end of the four year research period the women who only received 2 doses of the Cerverix® had the same degree of immunity to the HPV virus as the women who got all three doses.
A 2010 survey published by the Center for Disease Control found that only 49 percent of women start the 3 dose treatment and that less than a third of those who get the first injection actually finish the treatment. Because of this, many researchers have started looking into reducing the number of vaccines needed hoping that women will be more likely to get the recommended treatment if they do not have to return to the doctor’s office twice more.
Many wonder why only half of girls receive the life-saving vaccine. Some girls are scared of the pain. Some girls and their parents just do not know a lot about the vaccine. Others keep putting it off until it is too late. And some chose not to get it because it protects against a sexually transmitted disease and the parents are scared that letting their daughters get the vaccine will signify that the girls are ready to start their sexual life. But just remember that most cervical problems are not diagnosed until the woman is in her thirties. Also, remember that these vaccines might help your daughter stay healthy and cancer free. So do not put it off! The sooner it is out of the way, the better!