Miloš Jeseňák1, Anna Šujanská1, Oľga Červeňová2, Peter Bánovčin1
Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with the development of several benign and malign conditions and diseases. Regarding its proven oncogenic potential, HPV belongs to the important human pathogens. Today, vaccination represents an effective possibility of HPV infection and is not dedicated only for women but also for men. Material and methods: The aim of our survey was the evaluation of the data regarding the knowledge about the possibility of vaccination against HPV in the cohort of 432 adolescent girls (aged 16.21 ± 1.7 years) by using the questionnaire. The study was performed in the period 2010 - 2011. Participants responded to the three basic questions about HPV infection and the possibility of prevention through the vaccination. Results: The majority of the respondents (93.98 %) were already familiar with the possibility of vaccination against HPV and the most frequent source of information were media and gynaecologists (together 81 %). Despite the good awareness about this topic, only 5.79 % of the girls were already vaccinated. Conclusions: Despite already proven preventive effect and excellent safety profile of the vaccines against HPV, the vaccination rate is still very low in the population of Slovakia. Regarding the better vaccine efficacy in its timing in the prepubertal age, the key role in vaccination recommendation and realization play general practitioners for children and adolescents. However, also other physicians and general practitioners for adults, who also take care about the patients with HPV-associated conditions, are not less important. Vaccination against HPV represents one of the most important inventions of modern preventive medicine due to its capacity to prevent the development of various oncologic diseases.