Researchers develop HPV breakthrough

Vaccine candidate offers prospect of better protection against cervical cancer

Chinese researchers have taken a major step forward in developing a new-generation vaccine with the potential to offer protection against almost all the most lethal forms of human papilloma virus, or HPV.

HPV is primarily transmitted through sexual contact. More than 200 distinct HPV types have been identified, of which at least 18 are high-risk types associated with 99 percent of cervical cancers, the second-most-common cancer among women, after breast cancer.