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Dr Weaver is acting instructor at the University of Washington Center for AIDS & STD Research, Harborview Medical Center, in Seattle, Wash.

E-mail: bethanyg{at}u.washington.edu

It was my pleasure to serve as chairperson for the industry-sponsored symposium "HPV Vaccines: Are We Closer to Preventing Cervical Cancer and Other HPV-Related Diseases" during the American Osteopathic Association Unified Convention in Orlando, Fla.

Human papillomavirus (HPV), a significant sexually transmitted pathogen in sexually active adolescents and young adults, is a necessary cause of low- and high-grade cervical lesions, cervical cancer, anal cancer, penile cancer, and genital warts. Current screening methods for HPV-related diseases have limited clinical sensitivity, causing HPV-associated disease to remain an important health problem. Prophylactic HPV vaccines, which may be available for clinical use in the next year, offer the promise of preventing HPV infection and its clinical sequelae. Osteopathic physicians, who often treat patients of all ages, should be properly informed about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HPV infection and its associated clinical sequelae in an effort to improve patient outcomes.

The program, presented October 26, 2005, had the following educational objectives:

• To describe the prevalence of HPV, risk factors for infection, and clinical manifestations associated with both incident and persistent infection.
  
• To discuss the causal relationship between high-risk HPV infection and cervical cancer, and low-risk HPV infection and genital warts.
  
• To review published clinical data outlining the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of prophylactic HPV vaccines.
  

Daron G. Ferris, MD, and I presented information supporting these objectives. The presentations were clear, informative, and intellectually engaging, and were successful in translating the relevant clinical and basic science data to an audience of osteopathic physicians and other healthcare professionals.

The articles compiled for this supplement of JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association represent a re-creation of the information exchanged during the AOA symposium and are intended to provide an enduring reference material that can be disseminated to a larger audience. Dr Ferris, Anthony H. Dekker, DO, and I have contributed articles that describe and synthesize a substantial body of literature to facilitate the learning process.

	Footnotes

 
Dr Weaver is a consultant for Merck & Co, Inc, and she is also a member of the speakers bureau for Merck & Co, Inc.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Weaver, B. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Weaver, B. A.