HPV vaccination does not cause multiple sclerosis

Studies give first all-clear for HPV vaccine

03/02/2015

Shortly after approval of the human papillomavirus HPV vaccine, the first cases of multiple sclerosis (MS) appeared at a short distance. The suspicion suggested that there might be a connection between the vaccine and the nerve disease. Again and again, media reports pointed to possible causality, which in part led to parents not vaccinating their children against the cervix cancer-causing virus HPV. After years of insecurity, two studies give the all-clear: the HPV vaccine does not increase the risk of multiple sclerosis.

HPV vaccination is often skeptical
„We neurologists can recommend girls and young women vaccination against the human papilloma virus HPV in good conscience, because the protection is not bought by disease risks of the nervous system, "explains Heinz Wiendl of the German Society of Neurology (DGN) Symptoms of existing MS could be observed as a result of vaccination.

When the suspicion soon after the approval of the HPV vaccine came up that this MS could favor, many parents were unsure. Consequently, the vaccine intended to protect against cervical cancer and intended as a single-dose vaccine never achieved the vaccination coverage expected at the beginning. Currently, about 45 percent of girls between the ages of 12 and 17 use the HPV vaccine, which is covered by statutory health insurance.

Multiple sclerosis is not favored by HPV vaccine
MS is a serious neuropathy that is one of the chronic autoimmune diseases. As the course progresses, the sheaths of the nerve cells are attacked. The symptoms can affect all neurological areas. This can cause visual disturbances, paralysis and dementia. The course of the disease is individually very different, this also applies to the severity and severity of the symptoms. MS is always associated with a severe physical restriction that can lead to death of the patient as the state of health deteriorates. It is one of the most common neurological diseases worldwide. Around two million people are affected.

The fear of this insidious disease is great. It is therefore not surprising that case reports of a possible link between HPV vaccination and MS have caused great skepticism in the population. „Whether it was simply a matter of coincidence was unclear at the time. However, numerous media reports led to great insecurity, "explains Wiendl, Director of the Department of General Neurology at the University of Münster. „This is a perennial favorite.“

Multiple sclerosis occurs independently of the HPV vaccine
Epidemiologists from the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen analyzed the medical records of nearly four million Danes and Swedes to find out whether there is an association between the HPV vaccine and MS. 800,000 of these women had been vaccinated with the Gardasil vaccine in the period 2006-2013. The researchers around Nikolai Madrid Scheller were thus able to evaluate and compare the incidence of MS before and after vaccination. As it turned out, only 163 MS cases of a total of 7,622 cases had occurred in the first two years after the HPV vaccination. Before the vaccination, 22 cases of MS were registered per 100,000 person-years, after vaccination only six per 100,000 person-years. A similar result was provided by the study with regard to other nerve diseases.

However, as the scientists emphasize, these results do not mean that the HPV vaccine can protect against MS. The imbalance is rather due to the age-related occurrence of the diseases, which are usually noticeable in women only in the second decade of life. However, the age of vaccination is between 10 and 15 years. The researchers therefore carried out a correction calculation in which the age could be taken into account. After that, the probability of developing MS was the same before and after vaccination.

Second study confirms the lack of correlation between HPV vaccination and multiple sclerosis
The second study also confirms that there is no relationship between HPV vaccination and the development of MS. „Annette Langer-Gould, the leader of this study, is a very good epidemiologist and this study is very important“, explains Professor Ralf Gold, Director of the Neurological Clinic of the University of Bochum and First Chairman of the German Society for Neurology. Langer-Gould and her colleagues left all medical records of the insurance company „Kaiser Permanente Southern California“ for the years 2008 to 2011 with regard to neurological abnormalities of one MS specialist evaluate. They then compared the data from vaccinations, especially against HPV and hepatitis B. The evaluation found 780 cases of MS or other demyelinating diseases. The researchers contrasted this with a fivefold number of controls - insured persons who were as similar as possible to the patient in terms of age, gender and place of residence.

„Again, this comparison found no association between vaccination against HPV or vaccines in general with the risk of having demyelinating disease within three years“, reports Professor Bernhard Hemmer, Director of the Neurological Clinic of the Technical University of Munich.

HPV vaccine lowers risk of cancer
It also turned out that the probability of receiving a diagnosis for MS or a similar disease within 30 days after vaccination was more than twice as high in the case of vaccinated patients under the age of 50 than it was for non-vaccinated persons. „These data argue against a causal relationship“, so inhibitor. On the other hand, it would be more likely that in people with an already existing disease, but who has not yet made themselves felt, the vaccine could develop more quickly visible symptoms. „Such a transition can also be initiated by any natural infection, such as common cold viruses“, the expert explains further. „Overall, vaccines against HPV lower the risk of cancer, and these studies clearly argue against an increased risk of developing MS and related conditions“, so Hemmers conclusion. (Ag)