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The prevalence of cervical-cancer-causing strains of HPV among teenage girls has dropped by half since the vaccine was introduced in 2006, the New York Times reports, from 7.2 percent to 3.6 percent. Even the CDC was surprised by the results, since only a third of teenage girls have been vaccinated in the U.S., compared to 80 percent in Denmark and Britain. (Thanks, Michele Bachmann.) HPV causes about 19,000 cancers every year in women, mostly cervical, and 8,000 in men, mostly throat (including, possibly, Michael Douglas). Future generations of reluctant cunnilinguists should find a new excuse.
