In recommendations released yesterday, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said Canadian girls aged nine to 13 who have not yet become sexually active should be immunized with Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against four strains of human papillomavirus, or HPV.

HPV is a common virus: an estimated 75 per cent of women will have at least one HPV infection in their lifetime. HPV causes almost all cervical cancers, killing about 290,000 women worldwide, including about 400 in Canada, each year.