May Health Pearls

1.  Gardasil 9 Vaccine: Potential 80% Reduction in Cervical Cancer

A study conducted by the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) reported a potential 80% risk reduction in cervical cancer among children 11-12 years old who received the 9-valent human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.  The results were reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In this study with data from seven centers, the new version of HPV vaccine, Gardasil 9 from Merck, showed a 13% increased protection from cervical, vaginal, vulva, anal and oropharyngeal cancers as compared to the previous Gardasil which covered four types of HPV.  Gardasil 9 was approved for girls from 9-26 years old and boys 9-15 years old. 

For further information, you can go to CSMC.edu.

2.  Lack of Sunlight might increase Pancreatic Cancer Risk

 A study from University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center reported a possible link between pancreatic cancer and low sunlight exposure.  Dr. Cedric Garland, the study’s coauthor, suggested that vitamin D deficiency, from a lack of sun exposure, might the cause of the increased the risk of pancreatic cancer.  His study was published online on April 30 in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The data reviewed were obtained from more than 100 countries and found that people who live near the equator have 1/6 the age-adjusted incidence of pancreatic cancer, as compared to those living far from the equator.

Dr. Garland’s group had reported previously a possible association between vitamin D deficiency and a higher risk of breast and colorectal cancer.  

3.  Nitrofurantoin Not Optimal Choice for Urinary Tract infections in Older Women 

A study recently published in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association reported that Nitrofurantoin (Macrobid/Macrodantin) might not be the most effective option to treat urinary tract infections (UTI) in older women compared to other antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin and norfloxicin. 

In this study, involving 9,223 women with reduced kidney function and 182,634 women with normal kidney function, Dr. Amit Garg, MD, PhD and colleagues compared the effectiveness of Nitrofurantoin to other antibiotics in women with UTI and found it was less effective than norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, regardless of the patients’ kidney function.  He warned of the higher failure rate with Nitrofurantoin treatment which could potentially lead to the necessity of a second round of treatment with other antibiotics.