HPV Vaccination: Prevention of Cervical Cancer in Serbia and in Europe

Abstract

Summary The identification of the high-risk human papilloma viruses (HPVs) as a cause of cervical cancer offered the possibility for the development of a HPV vaccine. Twenty years after this identification of the HPV types, the first HPV vaccine came to the market. There are three HPV vaccines today on the market, all containing the virus-like particles (VLPs) of the HPV types 16 and 18, which are considered to cause 77 % of all cancers caused by HPVs. In addition, two of the vaccines contain two low-risk HPV types (6 and 11)-quadrivalent or the same as low-risk types and additional high-risk HPV types (31, 32, 45, 52, 58)-nonavalent vaccines. The cervical cancer protection efficacy of the vaccines is very high, around 100%. The VLPs of the 6- and 11-type offer efficient protection against genital warts. Unfortunately, the implementation of the vaccination is actually not so high despite all scientific and medical facts, but their rates in Europe are steadily increasing reaching about 90% in one country after another. In Serbia, all of the three vaccines are on the market but are highly underused. Actually, there is no national program and the Serbian vaccination rates are very low. High vaccination rates in Serbia need to be achieved as a goal of prevention of cervical cancer.