Thalia,

Gail Mac is the expert but just in case she's on vacation or something here's my take:

The Garasil vaccine was developed to be most effective when given to a female who has not been exposed to the HPV virus. That vaccine was tested on 25,000 females who were given 3 shots each for a total of 75,000 and they were followed for 5 years without one complication except local irritations. Over 2,000,000 privately administered doses have been given with the same results. The FDA has approved the vaccine for females only in the 9 thru 26 year old group.

The vaccine was designed to be and has proven to be effective against 4 strains of HPV; 6 and 11 which cause 90% of genital warts and 16 and 18 which are Class One Carcinogens that are known to cause 70% of all cervical cancer and 60% of all Oral Pharyngeal cancer and cancers of the Larynx, Anus and Penis.

Gardasil is currently working on a similar vaccine for boys.

The vaccine trial that Hopkins is working on and Gail's husband and other are participating in (only men at this time) is being tested to see if it will boost the immune system's response to attack the HPV virus once it is already exposed in the body. The results are favorable and I understand that they next plan to test females.

According to Gail Mac, even if all goes perfectly, we may not see the vaccine available for 10 years. I tried to get into the final phase with Hopkins but I was #12 on a 6 man list. Again Gail Mac knows volumns more than I do so hopefully she will improve my post.