Latest news with #HealthyPeople2030
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Many unaware of links between HPV, cancer, poll finds
Many Americans remain unaware of the cancer risk for both men and women posed by human papillomavirus, a new Ohio State University poll has found. Most people don't know much about HPV and its long-term cancer risks, and also have key misperceptions about how the virus is spread, the poll found. For example, the majority of people are unaware that the virus is more common among men than women, and is associated with rising rates of cancers that directly impact men. Instead, people still see HPV as mostly associated with cervical cancer risk in women, and shrug off the importance of vaccination for men, results show. This lack of awareness might explain why HPV vaccination rates have been slow to increase, researchers said. "We have a vaccine that has been shown to reduce the risk of HPV infection by up to 90%," Electra Paskett, a cancer control researcher with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a news release. "This is a powerful tool for cancer prevention that has only been available to us in the past few decades, and we are seeing the impact of those vaccines now through the scientific data," she added. The federal Healthy People 2030 goals call for at least 80% of teens to be vaccinated against HPV by the end of the decade, according to the National Cancer Institute. But only about 57% of boys and 61% of girls have gotten the HPV vaccine, the NCI says. For the survey, Ohio State researchers asked people if they agree or disagree with basic statements about HPV. Responses showed an astonishing lack of knowledge. For example, about 42% of people believe HPV is more common in women than in men, the poll found. "This is concerning because more men are infected with HPV than women and they could unknowingly spread it to their partners," Paskett said. Likewise, nearly half of respondents (45%) didn't know that HPV is linked to cancers other than cervical cancer in women. In fact, HPV does cause more than 9 out of every 10 cases of cervical cancer, but the virus also causes cancers of the penis, anus, head and neck among men, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 4 out of every 10 cases of cancer caused by HPV occur among men, the CDC says. Every year, more than 15,000 American men develop cancers caused by HPV. There also have been rapidly rising rates of HPV-related tonsil and tongue base cancers, noted Dr. Matthew Old, a head and neck surgeon with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. These cancers could become one of the top three cancers among middle-aged U.S. men 45 to 65 by 2045, and the most common cancer in elderly men in the next 10 years, recent estimates suggest. In the new survey, 40% of poll respondents believed that people with HPV have symptoms. In truth, HPV infections are largely silent for years, with symptoms developing only after the virus has caused cancer. "It can take years or even decades for the genetic changes caused by HPV to take effect and transform into cancer," Old said in a news release. CDC stats show that the vaccine has been effective in cutting down on HPV since its approval for girls in 2006 and subsequent approval for boys in 2009. Infections with the HPV strains that cause most cancers have dropped 88% among teen girls and 81% among young adult women, the CDC says. HPV is sexually transmitted, and once someone is infected there are no drugs that will rid them of the virus, experts said. The HPV vaccine, Gardasil 9, is recommended between ages 9 and 12 for maximum effectiveness, prior to potential exposure, Paskett said. However, she added that the vaccine also is now available to adults up to age 45. "Many who are unvaccinated unknowingly carry and spread high-risk strains of the virus," Old said. "That's why vaccination is so important." More information SOURCE: Ohio State University, news release, March 4, 2025 Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WSJ asks Kennedy to cast aside ‘antivax hooey' amid Texas measles outbreak
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board published an op-ed Monday calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to set aside his anti-vaccine activist positions in light of the nearly 50 measles cases that have been confirmed among mostly unvaccinated children in Texas. 'We are on record as skeptical of RFK Jr.'s nomination. The Senate confirmed him. Now the best-case scenario would be for Mr. Kennedy to internalize that he is no longer an activist outsider who needs to take provocative potshots to get attention,' the Journal's editorial board wrote. As of last week, 48 children in the South Plains region of Texas have confirmed cases of measles, and 13 have been hospitalized. The disease is so transmissible that up to 9 out of 10 people who come into contact someone with measles can be infected, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, all the children who have been infected are either unvaccinated or have unconfirmed vaccination statuses. The department has stated 'additional cases are likely' due to how contagious measles is. 'The tragedy is that this doesn't have to keep happening. In 2000 measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., meaning 12 months with no continuous spread,' the Journal's op-ed read. 'Yet for some people, the reality of measles feels like a sepia-toned history lesson, whereas the antivax hooey featured on podcasts these days sounds current,' the Journal added. 'RFK Jr., an environmental lawyer by trade, has long been part of the problem, and at his Senate confirmation hearings he presented himself as just asking questions, man. That undersells his role in spreading doubt and confusion.' The op-ed additionally noted the falling vaccination rates among kindergarteners in recent years. All states and D.C. require vaccinations for school attendance, but exceptions are often permitted. During the 2023-2024 school year, vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergarteners fell to 92.7 percent when it came to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Federal health authorities have long maintained a 'Healthy People 2030' target of achieving 95 percent MMR immunization coverage. This level of coverage is considered ideal for maintaining herd immunity in a population. Whether this aim for vaccine coverage will continue now remains unclear as Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has signaled he will prioritize work on chronic illnesses as opposed to infectious disease. The Hill has reached out to the HHS for comment on the Journal's op-ed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
17-02-2025
- Health
- The Hill
WSJ asks Kennedy to cast aside ‘antivax hooey' amid Texas measles outbreak
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board published on op-ed on Monday calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to set aside his anti-vaccine activist positions in light of the nearly 50 measles cases that have been confirmed among mostly unvaccinated children in Texas. 'We are on record as skeptical of RFK Jr.'s nomination. The Senate confirmed him. Now the best-case scenario would be for Mr. Kennedy to internalize that he is no longer an activist outsider who needs to take provocative potshots to get attention,' wrote the Journal's editorial board. As of last week, 48 children in the South Plains region of Texas have been confirmed to have measles and 13 have been hospitalized. The disease is so transmissible that up to nine out of 10 people who come into contact someone with measles can be infected, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, all the children who have been infected are either unvaccinated or have unconfirmed vaccination statuses. The department has stated 'additional cases are likely' due to how contagious measles is. 'The tragedy is that this doesn't have to keep happening. In 2000 measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., meaning 12 months with no continuous spread,' the Journal's op-ed read. 'Yet for some people, the reality of measles feels like a sepia-toned history lesson, whereas the antivax hooey featured on podcasts these days sounds current,' the Journal added. 'RFK Jr., an environmental lawyer by trade, has long been part of the problem, and at his Senate confirmation hearings he presented himself as just asking questions, man. That undersells his role in spreading doubt and confusion.' The op-ed additionally noted the falling vaccination rates among kindergarteners in recent years. All states and D.C. require vaccinations for school attendance, but exceptions are often permitted. During the 2023-2024 school year, vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergarteners fell to 92.7 percent when it came to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Federal health authorities have long maintained a 'Healthy People 2030' target of achieving 95 percent MMR immunization coverage. This level of coverage is considered ideal for maintaining herd immunity in a population. Whether this aim for vaccine coverage will continue now remains unclear as Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has signaled that he will be prioritizing work on chronic illnesses as opposed to infectious disease.
CBS News
13-02-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Some CDC health data and webpages still offline after judge's order
Some data and webpages taken down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies to comply with President Trump's executive order remained offline Thursday, after a judge ordered health officials to put some back online. Agency officials had scrambled last month to scrub all mentions of "gender" from their websites, taking down anything that could not be easily rewritten. That prompted a lawsuit by the nonprofit Doctors for America, which secured a federal court ruling to temporarily restore the list of webpages that the group had cited in their filings by the end of the day on Tuesday. However, access to federal health resources on several topics not specifically mentioned by the group has not been restored, like the CDC's recommendations on who should be vaccinated for mpox during the ongoing outbreak, which remains offline. The ruling this week by Judge John Bates said federal agencies have until Friday to restore access to any other resources that members of the doctors group say they "rely on to provide care" that were removed without notice. Some datasets the group's members said they needed, like a CDC survey of mental health and chronic disease in high school students, were accessible again by Thursday. But an online tool to navigate results from a similar dataset overseen by the agency about adults, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, was still offline. Researchers rely on that survey's results to compare a number of health trends across different states and communities, including rates of cancer screening, obesity rates and women's health issues. Webpages mentioning "gender" on other health agency websites also remain offline. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's "Healthy People 2030" database of goals tracked by federal health authorities also remains partially offline. Pages about data on transgender people, like goals to reduce bullying of transgender students or increase the national surveys that include data on transgender people, remain inaccessible. The FDA's posts on how it was easing restrictions for gay men to donate blood also remain offline, after they were taken down last month. The agency's final guidance to blood banks can still be found by searching the FDA website, but it has been quietly scrubbed of all mentions of gender. "Maintaining a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S. is paramount for the FDA, and this proposal for an individual risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will enable us to continue using the best science to do so," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf had said in a now-deleted announcement from 2023 about the change.
CBS News
13-02-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Some CDC data and webpages still offline after judge's order
Some data and webpages taken down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies to comply with President Trump's executive order remained offline Thursday, after a judge ordered health officials to put some back online. Agency officials had scrambled last month to scrub all mentions of "gender" from their websites, taking down anything that could not be easily rewritten. That prompted a lawsuit by the nonprofit Doctors for America, which secured a federal court ruling to temporarily restore the list of webpages that the group had cited in their filings by the end of the day on Tuesday. However, access to federal health resources on several topics not specifically mentioned by the group has not been restored, like the CDC's recommendations on who should be vaccinated for mpox during the ongoing outbreak, which remains offline. The ruling this week by Judge John Bates said federal agencies have until Friday to restore access to any other resources that members of the doctors group say they "rely on to provide care" that were removed without notice. Some datasets the group's members said they needed, like a CDC survey of mental health and chronic disease in high school students, were accessible again by Thursday. But an online tool to navigate results from a similar dataset overseen by the agency about adults, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, was still offline. Researchers rely on that survey's results to compare a number of health trends across different states and communities, including rates of cancer screening, obesity rates and women's health issues. Webpages mentioning "gender" on other health agency websites also remain offline. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's "Healthy People 2030" database of goals tracked by federal health authorities also remains partially offline. Pages about data on transgender people, like goals to reduce bullying of transgender students or increase the national surveys that include data on transgender people, remain inaccessible. The FDA's posts on how it was easing restrictions for gay men to donate blood also remain offline, after they were taken down last month. The agency's final guidance to blood banks can still be found by searching the FDA website, but it has been quietly scrubbed of all mentions of gender. "Maintaining a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S. is paramount for the FDA, and this proposal for an individual risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will enable us to continue using the best science to do so," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf had said in a now-deleted announcement from 2023 about the change.
