This summer, Dr Elaine Emmerson of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine will be hosting and supervising two Nuffield Research Placement students. The S5 students are studying the perception of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine amongst young people aged 11-17. Part of that study is an appeal to that age group to participate in short survey.
Following this, the research students will develop their own resource aimed at educating young people on HPV and the importance of being vaccinated against it as many young people and their parents/carers remain reticent about the vaccine.
HPV is a viral infection passed between people through skin-to-skin contact. HPV infections do not usually cause any symptoms, and most people will not know they are infected. Most people will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives and their bodies will get rid of it naturally without treatment. But some people infected with a high-risk type of HPV will not be able to clear it. Over time, this can cause abnormal tissue growth, which can lead to cancer if not treated. To protect against this, girls and boys aged 12 to 13 years in the UK are offered the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as part of the NHS vaccination programme. The HPV vaccine helps protect against cancers caused by HPV, including cervical cancer, cancer of the genitals, and head & neck and mouth cancers.
If you require more information, please contact the lead researcher Dr Emmerson at Elaine.Emmerson@ed.ac.uk
If you are aged between 11 or 17, please consider helping with this important research at: –
https://edinburgh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/hpv-vaccine-young-people
