A new vaccine cleared up HPV infections in women who had precancerous lesions on their cervix - preventing it from developing, according to a new study.
The shot injects a protein that triggers the immune system to attack precancerous changes in the cervix, specifically lesions known as CIN.
About one-third of women who had the most severe lesions had them clear up as well as the HPV infection itself.
The team, from Michigan Medicine, says the vaccine is safer, cheaper and easier than surgery to remove the lesions and could be a new way of preventing precancerous changes in the cervix from developing into disease.
A new study from Michigan Medicine found that a new vaccine not only cleared up precancerous lesions in women caused by HPV, but the infection itself (file image)
HPV, short for Human papillomavirus, is the most common STI in the US, affecting around 79 million people. It has been linked to numerous cancers - including prostate, throat, head and neck, rectum and cervical cancer.
Since the HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006, 79 countries and territories have implemented a publicly funded national HPV vaccination program.
In the US, the vaccine is offered in two or three doses over the course of six months to girls who are between 11 and 12, with a catch-up series recommended no later than age 26.
In the UK, all girls between ages 12 and 18 are offered free vaccination against HPV over six to 12 months, as well as 12- and 13-year-old boys.
Lead author Dr Diane Harper, a professor of family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at Michigan Medicine,
