UK girl died of chest tumour, not of HPV vaccine

The teenage British girl who passed away shortly after being vaccinated against HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, died as a result of a large tumor in her chest and not due to the vaccine.

"The pathologist has confirmed today at the opening of the inquest into the death of Natalie Morton that she died from a large malignant tumour of unknown origin in the heart and lungs," said Dr Caron Grainger, Joint Director of Public Health for NHS Coventry and Coventry City Council, in a statement. The tumor was said to have "heavily infiltrated" her heart and gone into her left lung. "There is no indication that the HPV vaccine, which she had received shortly before her death, was a contributing factor to the death, which could have arisen at any point," she added, emphasizing that the vaccine is safe and urging parents to vaccine their children against the virus. Fourteen-year-old Natalie fell ill shortly after she was injected with the Cervarix vaccine, one of the two HPV vaccines that are currently on the market. The girl died later in hospital. The event sparked concern around the world whether the vaccine against HPV, which is responsible for 70 per cent of all cases of cervical cancer worldwide. Each year, 490.000 women worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer. About 80 percent of them live in the developing world. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, cervical cancer strikes 55.000 women a year. HPV over time modifies the cells of the cervix, which can result into cancer when left untreated. Treatment includes freezing abnormal cervix cells with liquid nitrogen and removing them or destroying them with a painless electrical current. The sooner a woman is treated, the better. The problem in many developing countries, however, is that screening and treatment for cervical cancer remains inadequate. Vaccinating women in poor countries, who bare the brunt of cervical cancer and HPV, technically is the answer. The main obstacle however, is of a financial nature. In South Africa for instance, Africa's largest economy, an HPV vaccination that comprises of three doses costs $200. To most South Africans, this is unaffordable. It is estimated that half of the population lives below the poverty line.