Quote:
Originally Posted by nikki1920
And the minor strains won't ever cause cancer? There are just too many questions for me.
Ladygreek: exactly.
Yes, its a great advance, but I just need more information.
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No, you misunderstand. They said that they captured the 4 strands that cause 70% of all HPV cervical cancers. The other strands have such low chances of causing cancer that vaccinating against them would be more like vaccinating against the flu. That last 30% is made up of many many strands of HPV.
I called them major as they are the ones that are most likely to cause cancer (and at least two of them cause genital warts as well). No vaccine prevents you catching a strain that isn't included in the vaccine though it can improve your resistance to another strain. But since you don't know what strain you catch ahead of time, the vaccine drops the risk that you'll get cancer.