The Missouri Department of Health says Missouri is ranked fourteenth in the world for new cases of cervical cancer. One in 142 girls born today will be diagnosed with cervical cancer sometime in life. It is about 240 people in Missouri.

Cervical cancer is mostly caused by contracting Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV.

Health Department Nurse Susan Kneeskern says children need to be vaccinated before they become sexually active. The three-dose series should be introduced from age nine to 11 or 12, the department recommends.

Kneeskern said, “The vaccine can be administered to females up to age 26, but those who are sexually active could get less benefit from it since they might have already gotten one or more types of HPV type targeted by the vaccine.”

Two HPV vaccines are FDA-approved and these are Gardasil from Merck, produced in yeast, and Cervarix from GlaxoSmithKline, produced in insect cells, till date.

Dr Santos, a gynecologic oncologist, said even after women get vaccinated they will undergo screening with HPV DNA testing or biomarker testing at around 30 years.

HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer in women.