Eva Mocová
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in women of child – bearing age. Human papillomavirus is present in almost 100 % of cervical cancers. Despite this growing epidemic, there is little knowledge and awareness of HPV among the general public. In the mid 1980s, the vaccine was developed, in parallel, by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, the University of Rochester, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute. In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first preventive HPV vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. under the trade name Gardasil®. In the second quarter of 2007 it had been approved in 80 countries also named as Silgard® in several of them. Early in 2007, GlaxoSmithKline filed for approval in the United States for a similar preventive HPV vaccine, known as Cervarix®. In June 2007 this vaccine was licensed in Australia, and it was approved in the European Union in September 2007. Cervarix® was approved for use in the U.S. in October 2009. Current preventive vaccines protect against the two HPV types (16 and 18) that cause about 70 % of cervical cancers worldwide. Quadrivalent vaccine protect against HPV with low oncogenic risk too.