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There are over 100 described strains of human papillomavirus and may be many more not described. The majority of these strains tend to produce symptoms no more severe than warts but just under 20 strains, transmitted by sexual contact, can cause cervical dyskaryosis (abnormal nuclei of the cells of the cervical epithelium) which in turn may lead to cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer and is one of the biggest "killers" of women in the developed world and it is some of the strains that cause this cancer that the vaccines target.

There are currently two vaccines: Gardasil (produced by Merck) and Cervarix (produced by GSK). Both vaccines target two of the strains that can cause cervical cancer and Gardasil also targets two strains that cause genital warts to develop. These vaccines work by stimulating the immune response to produce antibodies to the virus. This means that when a person comes into contact with the virus they already have antibodies specific to the virus and so are much less likely to get infected. Because of this, the vaccine needs to be given before the virus is contracted. The vaccine is thought to be protective for a minimum of four and a half years after administration.

Because the vaccine needs to be administered before the person has contracted the virus it is recommended that the vaccine is given between the ages of 9 to 25 in women (and 9 to 15 in boys). The UK is considering vaccinating all girls, and possibly boys at the age of 11 or 12. In the USA objections have been raised by conservative groups because they believe that vaccinating young girls will encourage them to be more sexually active as they no longer need fear contracting HPV. There is currently no evidence that the risk of contracting the virus is dissuading girls from having sex so it is unlikely that administering the vaccine will encourage any to be more promiscuous.

References:
Wikiped ia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
htt p://sexuality.about.com/od/sex ualscience/c/hpvvaccine.htm

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