A local study found that health experts calling for a more comprehensive nonspublic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine have found that a different strain that causes cervical cancer, a strain that is not covered by commonly used vaccines, is emerging and becoming the most predominant type of women in the Philippines.
The results of the local study beat HPV, indicating that among the 1,100 women surveyed between 2022 and 2024, Cavite’s Cavite ratio was positive for HPV tests, 15.1% and 12.8%, respectively.
Among women who tested positive, 52% of women were found to have HPV-52, a high-risk virus that was not covered by a widely used quadrivalent vaccine.
It has overturned the same high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) types 16 and 18, which are traditionally the most common strains targeted by tetravalent vaccines.
“So, in our old data in the Philippines… we saw HPV-52 in our 1998 study. But in the current study, we saw that HPV-52 is more common in the community than HPV-16,” said Dr. Ourlad Alzeus G. Tantengco, Ph.D., head of the study. BusinessWorld Last Monday, on the sidelines of the research speech.
Mr Tantengco also said that even in four out of five women infected with the strain, HPV-52 remained for 12 months, resulting in a nine-fold increase in the risk of cervical cancer.
“Persistence is a major risk factor for cervical cancer,” said Mr. Tantengco. “If we ignore these common but undiscovered strains, we have the potential to put thousands of women under protection.”
“That’s why we really need to cover other genotypes when it comes to vaccination,” he added.
Currently, the country’s National Immunization Program (NIP) manages only high-risk vaccines covering high-risk types 16 and 18, as well as low-risk types 6 and 11.
In view of the results of the study, Mr. Tantengco called for a more comprehensive non-radiating vaccine that covers nine HPV strains, including HPV-52.
“We are using vaccines that no longer match real-world data,” Mr Tantengco said. “Unbiased vaccines covering nine genotypes, including HPV-52, provide the broadest and most relevant protections for today’s Philippines.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in order to achieve herds against HPV, the country must have at least one dose of HPV vaccination before the age of 15.
It also recommends that 70% of women be screened for cervical cancer at ages 35 and 45 years old, and 90% of diagnosed patients receive timely treatment. – EDG Adrian A. Eva
