St. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) -  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, in the United States, about 7,000 men get head and neck and anal cancers from HPV each year.  A new recommendation from the nation’s pediatricians that all boys, beginning at age 11, should get the HPV vaccine earns high praise from a local doctor.

HPV or the human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends all boys 11 years of age and older — as well as all girls — get the HPV vaccine.

“It’s easy to get this vaccine.healthy. Many people contract STDs in their first sexual encounters and it’s really tragic because young people are getting this virus quite innocently. I’m ecstatic that we have this vaccine to keep our children healthy,” said Washington University pediatrician Dr. Kathleen Berchelmann.

The infection usually doesn’t cause any symptoms and goes away on its own. But certain types of the virus may cause genital warts and in some cases cancer.  This new recommendation updates the previous stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics which had only backed routine HPV vaccinations for girls.

Link: Healthchildren.org
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