The prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine-types and closely related HPV types declined sharply among vaccine-eligible females during 10 years of high-coverage HPV vaccination in England, a study shows. There was no indication of type replacement, the authors report, and they conclude, “These findings should enable confidence in planning for cervical screening of these females, and in predicting declines in HPV-related cancers.”
Between 2010 and 2020, residual vulvovaginal swabs (VVS) were collected from 16- to 24-year-old women by the U.K. National Health Service for chlamydia screening. Testing of 21,168 samples for type-specific HPV DNA showed these trends: “The prevalence of HPV16/18 in sexually active 16–18 year old females who were offered vaccination aged 12–13 years was <1% in the most recent years tested, compared to over 15% prior to the vaccination programme in 2008. The magnitude of these decreases also suggests reduced transmission is offering some herd protection to unvaccinated females. HPV31/33/45 prevalence also steadily decreased, providing evidence of cross-protection. HPV6/11 prevalence remained stable during the bivalent vaccine period, with more recent declines, as expected due to the use of the quadrivalent vaccine. There has been no substantive increase in the prevalence of other high-risk (HR) HPV types.”