Thanks to a quite astounding piece of ignorance on the part of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, the HPV vaccine is in the news again. That's the vaccine against human papilloma virus, which can trigger cervical cancer. With lucky timing (from the manufacturer's point of view), a magnificent black box packed with purple tissue has also just arrived in the Guardian office. It contains a home-testing kit for HPV which, it claims "could save your life".
Time to unravel a few threads. For those who missed the row, Bachmann reported as fact a conversation with a woman who claimed that after having the HPV vaccine, her daughter became "mentally retarded". Doctors and scientists have been tearing their hair out. There is absolutely no evidence of any such adverse effect from the jab, which has been given to millions of girls and women by now.
The subtext to this is the entrenched view on the political right in the US that the jab encourages promiscuity. It is true that HPV is sexually transmitted, but given that few had any idea the virus existed before a vaccine hoved into view, it is surely fairly unlikely that girls in the past would have avoided sex because they were afraid of being infected by it. If they are not put off by a really scary sexually transmitted virus, HIV, why would they change their behaviour because of HPV?
And that brings us to the black box. If HPV can trigger cervical cancer, shouldn't we all test ourselves at home if we can to find out if we are at risk?
Well maybe – if you don't go for the routine NHS smear test. The reason why we are vaccinating schoolgirls and not older women is because once you start having sex, you are quite likely to get infected with HPV. It's a bit like the colds that go around. You get it – and then your immune system usually gets rid of it. No harm done. For a minority, it can trigger cervical cancer. So the home test doesn't tell you much. You are supposed to wait a year if it's positive and then do it again before taking any action and that can cause anxiety. And if it's negative, you may be falsely reassured. Better to save your money, bite the bullet and go for a smear. That definitely could save your life.
