Should Actors Who Kiss Get Vaccinated?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:11pm

I know it's not a nice subject, but kissing, often French-kissing, is part of the job for some actors. This article says HPV infection can be obtained in this way.

Looks like a job-related health risk. How do actors protect themselves from this? Over time in a show with cast replacements, understudies, one actor may be kissing several people...

Should AEA seek a ban of French-kissing onstage for its members? Do we really need French kissing on stage?

Should actors who French kiss get the vaccine?

"French" kissing ups risk of oral HPV infection Updated On: 5/13/09 at 04:11 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:12pm

Not if they are Christians.

The tone of this post is Matter-of-Fact. Filtered by Tone-A-Tron^TM
Updated On: 5/13/09 at 04:12 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:15pm

Let's not dis Christians.

I'm wondering about avoidable health risks for actors and awareness of the risks.

Plus that vaccine costs hundreds of dollars and I believe it has to be administered over time in more than one dose.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:15pm

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:18pm

Maybe the risk of that is one stress actors shouldn't have to have.

Why should they have to French kiss? Is it really necessary?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:19pm

Unless there's been a medical breakthrough that has slipped by me (which is highly possibly) I believe the vaccine is only available to women ages 9 to 26. So, if you're male or female over 26 you're SOL.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:22pm

I believe that anyone can buy the vaccine if your doctor is willing to give it to you.

It is recommended for young women, but they are not the only ones who could benefit. Any person who doesn't have it should benefit from the vaccine.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:25pm

The FDA has not approved the vaccine for men yet. I don't know of many doctors willing to give you a vaccine the FDA has not approved for you. And I wouldn't go to any doctor willing to go against the FDA.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:31pm

The FDA? Puh-lease. Being aware of what they don't do for oversight and don't require of drug companies and what little they require in statistics to admit new drugs, the FDA is not the great big helpful protective agency that you may wishfully believe it to be. Forget it. Just forget the FDA.

Better to look at British or European standards for this vaccine.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:37pm

I don't know about you but I don't live in Europe. I live in America where we have the FDA and in America if the FDA has not approved a drug a doctor won't give it to you. Research is being done and I'm sure the vaccine will, eventually, be available for men. If it's available in Europe then maybe you can go over there and get it. You cannot get it in America unless your doctor doesn't mind doing illegal procedures in his/her practice.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:44pm

Eris, it is my understanding that once a drug is approved by the FDA doctors can prescribe it for other uses also to see if it works. Surprised? Not too many people are aware of that.

Take at this article, more than two years old, in the BBC News where they are considering giving the vaccine also to boys. It also talks about gay men paying for the jabs.

"Doctors say people outside of these age groups have been contacting them to get the vaccine. Many private clinics are offering it to gay men for about £450. "
HPV Q & A

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:49pm

Again, that's not America. You can cite what other countries do all you want. It doesn't change the fact that this is America and those countries are not. Different laws and all.

[savannah]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:51pm

I think this is a good point. They shouldn't have to french kiss. Not necessary.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:52pm

Read what I said again, Eris.

When the FDA approves a drug, doctors can try it for other uses.

That's the U.S.

It's probably how they find out that a drug made for one disease can cure another. By trial doctors discovered a drug for tuberculosis also arrested leprosy/Hanson's Disease long ago.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:55pm

The article may be about events in another nation, but nomdeplume's assertation about the FDA's approval of a drug clearly makes it possible for it to be administered here in the USA to men; the only issue is finding a doctor who will do it.


Edit: Haha, we posted that at the same time! Out of curiosity, do you know of a source proving what you said about the FDA? I'm not questioning you, but just want to see one...

Updated On: 5/13/09 at 04:55 PM

[bethnor]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 4:55pm

i hate to scare ppl, but you would be shocked at how much doctors do that is NOT FDA approved. know anyone who got diarrhea from giardia? guess what. the preferred drug for that, metronidazole, is NOT FDA approved for it. especially in the coming years, if you are only going to accept drugs that are FDA approved for a given thing, then expect NEVER to get antibiotics for anything other than respiratory tract and skin infections.

conversely, it can be shocking what IS FDA approved for a given thing, as many doctors would NEVER use said drug for the FDA approved indication.

as for the HPV vaccine, let's be real. the main reason for young women to get the HPV vaccine is to prevent cervical cancer. so why should actors get the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer from kissing, which, i think you may rest assured, would be a very rare event?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 5:08pm

Many diseases are spread through saliva. Should actors receive meningitis shots? That can be far more deadly than HPV. What about "the kissing disease"? How many Broadway actors have been out with mono lately?

Why stop at kissing? Most infections are spread through direct contact, like the flu and the common cold. I say we ban any and all touching onstage, just in case. Masks and rubber gloves will be required when those death-wisher playwrights refuse to have their shows staged with all the actors standing 6 feet apart at all times.

Then again, there's always airborne diseases. The only solution is to have each actor perform in a hermetically-sealed bubble. Then they'll finally be safe.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 5:10pm

The reason why they hope to catch young women with the vaccine is to avoid them getting infected with HPV before they become sexually active to avoid cervical cancer. Of course that is a good goal, but it is discriminatory to leave everyone else out who is not infected.

There may be a limited amount of the drug and it is very expensive so it is a way of directing it towards what they feel is the best use.

But that's not the only kind of cancer it can cause.

B3TA07, google is your friend. I don't have a quick webpage to send you but if you do a little research you will find this out.

My point is simply this. Can we avoid this health risk to actors? Is it an unnecessary risk and is there a way we can protect them?

[bethnor]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 5:20pm

turns out you are right... to a degree.

there IS a risk to young men of getting various anal carcinomas from HPV. however, this event, compared to women getting cervical cancer, is rare (by extension, getting anal carcinoma for oropharyngeal HPV seems like it would be an even rarer event). this is part of the reason why the vaccine is not approved for men. the disease in question must be common enough in order to enroll enough patients to study your question (i.e., does the vaccine reduce the rate of anal squamous cell carcinoma in young men?). the issue of whether to get an anal PAP smear in sexually active men who have sex with men is not entirely clear yet, so how could the matter of whether to get the vaccine?

consider yourself the hypothetical actor. what do you hope to prevent by getting the vaccine? you could get HPV infection, but what if it had no sequelae? you'd be dropping the money for nothing. as it turns out, young children DO get HPV-related cancers of the oropharynx, but that usually comes from HPV from their MOTHER (when they passed through the birth canal they swallow all that amniotic fluid and stuff, where the virus has been shed).

this is not to say, in time, whether the vaccine might help, it's just that no one knows that it would right now, and the chances that it would seem remote, especially if you are male. it seems you are most concerned about actors getting some kind of oropharyngeal cancer from HPV. most people who get an oropharyngeal cancer abuse tobacco or alochol. so again, what do you hope to achieve?
Updated On: 5/13/09 at 05:20 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 5:29pm

I'd rather see French kissing banned than have to mess with vaccines, it might also help reduce transmissions of other orally communicable diseases as well. What singer (or actor) wants to kiss another who has pneumonia, for example?

But I don't make the rules and I'm wondering what the popular esthetic is re the need for French kissing. Does an audience demand or require it?

Are directors, writers, producers aware of the additional health risk they are putting on actors if the kiss has to be a French kiss?

And if an actor has to kiss/French kiss to work, how can they protect themselves, should they be protected as best as possible and who should pay for it?

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 6:05pm

This thread just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 6:56pm

I don't think I've used the term "French kiss" since 6th grade.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 7:20pm

you must remember this
a kiss is just a kiss
a sigh is just a sigh
but viruses will not comply
and germs go by


[sorry, couldn't resist]

[Lynnespock2]

Posted: 5/13/09 at 9:30pm

YIKES! Is all I have to say. I guess germaphobs are everywhere!

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 5/14/09 at 3:09am

"I think this is a good point. They shouldn't have to french kiss. Not necessary."
...and...I agree! They can pretend. After all, they are actors. But, in this day and age...safer to abstain!