A few years ago, I asked my mother (whose a nurse) about human papillomavirus or HPV. I had never heard of it, but my doctor mentioned it to me. Unfortunately, it's a disease very few women know about and should. At first, the vaccines for HPV was for young girls and women aged 9 to 26. Now, it looks like the vaccines can help women up to the age of 45.

In a study of Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, the vaccine for preventing cervical cancer, found that the vaccine prevented 91 percent of cases in women from 24 to 45. It should be known that Merck organized and funded the study and that they're trying to secure FDA approval for the medicine. Either way, these findings could help protect more women against HPV.

"This is the first efficacy study in this age population," Dr. Eliav Barr, who heads the Merck HPV Vaccine program, said in a telephone interview. "The vaccine performed as we expected. It was highly effective."

Gardasil is designed to protect against HPV types 16 and 18, which are known to cause about 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer. It also protects against HPV strains 6 and 11, which cause genital warts.

It is approved for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26, but Merck is seeking to expand its use to older women.

The study, presented at the 24th International Papillomavirus Conference in Beijing, China, found that Gardasil prevented 83 percent of infections, cervical abnormalities and pre-cancers and external genital lesions caused by the cancer-causing HPV types 16 and 18.

It reduced 94 percent of abnormal Pap tests caused by these HPV types, and prevented 100 percent of these problems caused by the genital wart HPV strains 6 and 11.

The women were followed for more than two years after the six-month vaccination period. The company plans to continue to follow them for a total of four years.

Merck will use these data to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market the vaccine to women through age 45.