HPV Vaccine

No, but I have eagerly awaited the release of this vaccine. HPV is the most common STI in the US, and many people do not realize that they are infected. It cannot be prevented by condom use, and having the warts removed can be extremely painful.

My daughter (15) receiced the Gardasil vaccine. She was fine except she did run a low-grade fever for a day or so after each of the 3 shots. I did call her peditrician when she started the low-grade fever with the first shot. Doc said it was a common side effect and to just keep an eye on the temp and call her if any other s/s showed up. Other than that she had no reactions to it at all.

We can share general stories as in "I found this in the literature." However, we are not able to provide medical advice per se. Please have your cousin see their medical provider.

I am quite aware of this and was merely looking for similar stories on the HPV vaccine. My cousin is already under medical attention.

My 12 yr old has had the 1st of the 2 injections. She had no symptoms at all.

Of course this is the kid who was diagnosed with mono and insisted that she was well enough to go back to school that afternoon. She never even felt tired, just a slight sore throat for a day or so!

It's normal for people to spike a temperature after receiving vaccines and is usually nothing to worry about provided the fever responds positively to tylenol (or any other fever-reducer). Of course, it's best that her PCP determines whether or not she is a candidate to finish the series. I should say, while Gardasil is a fairly new vaccine, there has been extensive research performed regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Like another poster pointed out, removal of warts caused by HPV can be very painful and they're very contagious. Most importantly, though (in my humble opinion), is that the vaccine protects girls and women from the four most common types of HPV that are known to cause cervical cancer later on in life. Considering the statistics for HPV infected women are astounding (80% of women will have had one type at some point in their lives...some unaware of being infected), I'm definitely a proponent of the vaccine. Put it this way, if I had a daughter who qualified...she would get vaccinated.

It may be that this young girl is ill with a flu virus and is not related to the vaccine.

It makes me smile sometimes that if we have something out of the ordinary happen and then follows another unusual event we always assume the two are related.

That being said even if I had flu like symptoms following a vaccine which could potentially save my life - I think I would rather risk flu than dying of cancer.

I have always been a proponant for vaccine, but can't make up my mind on this one. I worked in a Women's Health Clinic at a Health Department and saw a lot of abnormal Paps. Cervical Ca is probably the most preventable with compliance to annual Pap Smears. My concern is that we are producing an entire generation of young women who will forgo Paps because they think they are protected..... And since Pap Smears are good for more than detecting Cervical Ca, they could be hurting themselves.

I'm 22 and I got the 3 shots lately. I have no s/s at all other than my arm being quite sore.