A VACCINATION campaign has led to a massive reduction in the number of Scottish women infected with a sexually transmitted virus which can cause cervical cancer.

Research due to be presented in Edinburgh today shows that the prevalence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) among young women has fallen by 90 per cent since an immunisation drive began in secondary schools 2008. The vaccine is offered to girls aged between 11 and 13.

Two genotypes of the virus, 16 and 18, are responsible for around 80 per cent of cervical cancers in Scotland alone. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally and most people - men and women - are infected at some point in their lives.

The research team, led by Dr Kevin Pollock, senior epidemiologist at Health Protection Scotland, believe the reduction in HPV may lead to a parallel drop in cervical cancer cases, and hope to see a decrease in new diagnoses within a year.

There were 388 new cases of cervical cancer in Scotland in 2014 and the disease is the 13th most common among women in the UK.

Dr Pollock said: "The very high uptake of the HPV vaccine is strongly associated with these massive reductions in high-risk HPV types that are known to cause approximately 90 per cent of cervical cancer in Scottish women.

"We also know that HPV 16 and 18 can cause a number of other cancers, including vulvovaginal, anal and a subset of head and neck cancers.

"These results suggest that this vaccine will also have a significant impact on these cancers in the years ahead."

Researchers compared the anonymised cervical screening and vaccination records of women born in 1995, who would have been offered the vaccine through routine school immunisation programmes, with those from unvaccinated women born between 1989 and 1990.

The study, which was funded by the Scottish Government, included samples collected from more than 20,000 women, making this one of the largest population-based studies to ever examine the impact of the vaccine.

They found around 0.5 per cent of women from the 1995 group tested positive for HPV genotypes 16 or 18, compared with 21.4 per cent of women born before 1990.The study also showed evidence that the vaccine protects against three other high-risk HPV genotypes involved in the development of cervical cancer.

The findings will be presented to the Microbiology Society's annual conference in Edinburgh by Dr Kate Cuschieri, director of the Scottish HPV Reference Lab.

She said: "These new findings indicate that the positive impact of the HPV vaccine may be even greater than we initially thought.

"Collectively, these data demonstrate the significant and continued benefits of the HPV vaccination programme in Scotland, which has achieved a consistent and high uptake of around 90 per cent in 12 to 13-year-old girls.

"It is important that we share this good news to encourage continued participation in this successful programme."