GARDASIL

To the Parents of Girls and Young Adult Women, 11-26 years of age,

Gardasil is a vaccine first granted FDA approval in June 2006 for use in girls and young women to prevent Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancer. Your Physician feels this is a very important vaccine that can have significant benefits for everyone who receives it. We all agree that every girl and young woman should receive it.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus that up to 50% of all people pick up at some point in their life. It is the cause of the common wart and plantar wart, but more importantly, certain strains of the virus have been shown to cause the majority of all female cervical cancer. These types of virus are picked up through sexual contact and it has been repeatedly shown that young women who have sexual contact during their teenage and young adult years are at the highest risk of picking up the virus. The vaccine was designed to prevent these people from getting infected by four of the most common and dangerous strains of the virus and therefore prevent cancers from developing.

This vaccine is approved for girls and women ages 9-26. It is recommended that all girls begin the vaccine series at age 11-12 and that any girl or young woman up to 26 years old receive the series to “catch” them up. It is a 3-shot series over a 6-month period and can be obtained through the Pediatric, Internal Medicine or Gynecology offices.

Call your Physician’s office now to schedule a physical exam, get your questions answered and begin the vaccine series.

Sincerely,

Physicians of the Canandaigua Medical Group

2/25/2009