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Thesis for human papillomavirus infection
Literature review on cervical cancer
Literature review on cervical cancer
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HPV Vaccination
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancerous death, in women, since 1950. Approximately 200,000 cervical cancer patients die each year in developing countries. Strains like HPV 16 and 18 cause about 70% of cervical cancer in women– one of the top causes of death in the world (WebMD, 2010, p.1). In the Unites States, about 10,000 women acquire the disease and 3,700 die annually Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is directly associated as a cause of cervical cancer. This virus affects the skin and genital area and, in some cases, it can also infect the throat and mouth. Since the HPV is passed from one person to another through skin-to-skin or sexual contact, sexually active people are more prone to this virus. Merck pharmaceuticals, in November 2006, began a lobbying and advertising campaign through which they aimed to promote the mandatory vaccination for young women with the vaccine, Gardasil. Some argue that mandatory vaccination is good for females .However, feminists emphatically argue that the HPV vaccine should not be mandatory for young women because of the fact that there are large expenses associated with the vaccine that could lead to conflict of interest, the fact that men carry this virus yet there is no push to vaccinate them and the fact that it is not clear that the vaccine has been sufficiently tested to ensure women’s safety.
Since the vaccine research is currently only funded by the manufacturer of the drug, this raises serious conflict-of-interest issues. Merck pharmaceuticals actually funded initiatives in the United States that were in favour of passing legislation to require mandatory vaccinations. In fact, money was funnelled through an organization called Women in Government (AP January 2...
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... the healer is often maintained by promoting fear, rather than strength, on the part of patients (Sherwin 1992, 143). A lot of unanswered questions remain in the case of Merck’s promotion of mandatory vaccination for women. There is a great deal of money to be made from this vaccine. When we start to uncover and examine the power structures in this healthcare initiative, we can see that there may be reason to be concerned. This does not mean that Gardasil is necessarily bad or that no young women should ever get the vaccine. However, it does mean that when we examine how powerful pharmaceutical companies work in concert with political organizations and powerful political leaders, then the consumers have a reason not to, blindly, accept the given information. We need to ensure that those with corporate interests are not the only voices heard in this debate.
There is a war going on against parents that refuse to vaccinate their children. It is coming from the government that makes and enforces laws requiring parents to vaccinate their children, hostile parents of vaccinated children, and doctors that refuse to see unvaccinated children. They are concerned about the potential health risk unvaccinated children pose to the public. These parents aren’t lunatics but are concerned parents that are trying to make the best choice for their children. In fact, these parents aren’t fighting alone; a number of pediatricians and medical experts are apart of this crusade and have taken the lead. They will tell you there is an agenda, “Vaccine manufacturers, health officials, medical doctors, lead authors of important studies, editors of major medical journals, hospital personnel, and even coroners, cooperate to minimize vaccine failings, exaggerate benefits, and avert any negative publicity that might frighten concerned parents, threaten the vaccine program and lower vaccination rates.” 4
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs, the marketing behind pills, and the use of media outlets.
"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in order to cure their ailments. For instance, they may present symptoms that are perfectly harmless, and lead potential citizens to believe that, because of these symptoms, they are "sick" and in need of medication. In some instances, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States misleads both the public and medical professionals by participating in acts of both deceptive marketing practices and bribery, and therefore does not act within the best interests of the consumers.
Klein, E. (2014). A health industry expert on ‘the fundamental problem with Obamacare.’ The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2/8/14 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/09/a-health-industry-expert-on-the-fundamental-problem-with-obamacare
“Immunizing Against Bad Science: The Vaccine Court and the Autism Test Case,” written by Lauren L. Haertlein, deals with one of today’s most popular controversies; vaccinations causing autism in children. Haertlein’s article gives insight into the history of vaccine litigation and the policies that accompany it. Furthermore, she talks immensely about the Vaccine Court, whose job is to work with petitioner’s stating that a vaccine, such as measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), has caused some illness to their child. The article uses real-life Vaccine Court examples such as Michelle Cedillo’s case, whose mother claimed a vaccination gave her daughter autism, as a way to better understand how the Vaccine Court works. This controversial topic is being discussed daily in magazines, journals, and on talk shows. The families that are blaming autism on vaccinations are giving vaccines a bad name and causing other parents to re-think their decision about getting their children vaccinated.
Merck attempted to cover up their fraudulent testing actions by destroying evidence of the falsified data and then lying to an FDA investigator. Merck also attempted to bribe the team on the MMRII testing process with financial incentives to cooperate and remain silent about the fraudulent activities and testing taking place. Merck went as far as to threaten Stephen Krahling with jail if he reported fraud to the FDA. Clearly, Merck’s purposes are corrupt and its actions of manipulating science distain its very mission of making the public healthier. Merck is doing the exact opposite of what its company’s objective is to do, it is putting young children and the public’s health at risk, all for the objective of continuous profit, reputation, power, influence, and maintaining its precious license to continue to distribute this vaccine.
The unforgettable story of vaccines is a story of triumph and controversy. The saddest part of the story is persistent ignorance and a lack of education, comingled with the personal need of some parents to explain away the problems of their children, have caused the controversy to arise. The good news is that the triumphant reality of vaccines as a whole is still the larger enduring legacy. The human papillomavirus vaccine is not an exception to this rule; in fact despite all the controversy surrounding the vaccine, it is one of medicine’s greatest lifesaving gifts to us.
Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.
Offit, P. (2011). Deadly choices: how the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all. New York, NY: Basic Books.
The Information gathered in 2012 from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies concluded that cervical cancer, “... used to be the leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States” (“Cervical Cancer Statistics”). But these statistics have gone down significantly in the past forty years because Planned Parenthood facilities provide to women pap smears to detect cell changes before the cancer develops. On the other hand, Planned Parenthood does not directly provide mammograms for women, their doctors and nurses “... teach patients about breast care, [and] connect patients to resources to help them get mammograms” ("Breast Cancer Screenings"). The important health care work done by the Planned Parenthood Clinics is, at times, over sought and even forgotten when the organization is embroiled in controversy as it finds itself in
Vaccines have many disadvantages, which justify a parent’s right to chose if they want to take the risk of vaccinating their child or not. The leader of a family, not the leader of a nation, should make this choice. The diseases and disabilities caused by vaccines are too substantial to ignore. More solid, long-term research should be done before they are deemed safe and mandatory. The innocent civilians who lost their lives in this war against disease are the biggest reasons of why the weapons of choice, vaccines, should be reevaluated.
HPV vaccine is PREVENTION against cervical cancer, genital warts and infertility. MORE reasons to get VACCINATED!!
Tone and diction play a major role in Adams article and the overall efficacy of his writing, his bias against the government and big pharmaceutical companies involving health mandates clearly shows and isn’t hidden, his spiel on the HPV vaccine is filled with satire and personal commentary, “The sick care industry is a for-profit industry, and the more people drug companies can target as being sick today-or even possibly someday being sick at some future date “justifies” treatment right now-the more money they can sock away in the bank.” () Adams utilizes a cartoon to convey to the reader his views of both the parties he claims are in cahoots with one another to endorse the vaccine to gain profit. The title of one of the excerpts in his article is “We must stop the medical tyranny” his placement of the word tyranny is another example of his outlook toward the government, that he acknowledges has plunged itself into a more dictatorship rule that is oppressing the public. Adam’s article seemed more of a political outcry of his own perso...
The American people have rights, and one of those rights is to decide what we want administered into our bodies. I think it is very important to educate others on the risks of vaccines so that they can decide what is fit for them. I also want to bring awareness to the difficulties people face to keep vaccines out of their bodies and their children’s bodies. It should not be a struggle. We have rights to our own bodies and we should not be treated any differently for choosing not to vaccinate. I do not get the flu shot, nor do I get every new shot thrown my way by doctors, and I am perfectly healthy. In fact, I rarely get sick. I depend on natural immunity and other natural means for my health, and that works great. (“Vaccines ProCon.org.”) Barbara Low Fisher, Co-founder of National Vaccine Information Center, stated, "If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biological products of known and unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good
The CDC works closely with public health agencies and private partners in order to improve and sustain immunization coverage and to monitor the safety of vaccines so that public ...