Medical: Cervical cancer vaccine may be available next year

A vaccine developed in Australia that gives protection against the virus that causes cervical cancer, may be available as early as next year after the first large-scale trial showed it was completely effective in preventing infection in more than 6000 young women.

Ian Hammond, a gynaecological oncologist at Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, said: "The prospect for the future is enormous".

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Susan Towns, head of the department of adolescent medicine at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, predicted most parents would accept the vaccine for their daughters, as they had done with immunisation against hepatitis B, which can also be sexually transmitted.

She also stated that boys should be immunised as well, to reduce HPV spread.