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(CNSNews.com) -- A newly developed vaccine for a virus linked to cervical cancer is likely to be widely welcomed as a crucial tool in the war against the killer disease - but also looks set to trigger a new ethical debate.

Manufacturers of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) say that in order to be effective, it must be taken before girls become sexually active, and so should be given to pre-teens.

HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection, which has multiple types, including types that are the leading cause of cervical cancer.

Health authorities say it's the second most common cancer in women after breast cancer, and in developing countries, more women of reproductive age die from cervical cancer -- about 250,000 a year -- than from any other form.

Although deaths in the U.S. are dropping each year as Pap smears become more routine, the American Cancer Society estimates that 3,710 women in America will die of cervical cancer in 2005.

Drug makers Merck and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are both testing vaccines -- tradenamed Gardasil and Cervarix respectively - and successful small-scale trials have been reported.

GSK's product has been shown to protect against the two types of HPV mostly responsible for cervical cancer, while Merck's aims to protect against those two types, plus another two that are responsible for genital warts.

Earlier this month the medical journal The Lancet Oncology reported that a small-scale trial of Merck's vaccine found it had cut infection rates for cervical cancer and genital warts by 90 percent.

Both vaccines are now being tested in larger, final-stage trials, ahead of applications for approval in the U.S. and elsewhere. Analysts predict substantial profits for the drug giants.

Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine, reported in The Journal of Infectious Diseases last January, found that four out of five sexually active adolescent girls were infected with HPV -- a higher rate than previously reported.

Because HPV is sexually transmitted, to be effective it needs to be given before exposure to the virus - that is, before sexual activity begins.

How parents are likely to respond to the idea of vaccinating young daughters for a sexually transmitted virus remains to be seen.

Medical College of Georgia researchers last year examined the issue, and found that 24 percent of 575 parents of 10-15-year-olds were opposed to the idea.

However, a brief educational program helped to change the attitude of some, the researchers said. Having learned more about the about HPV and cancer risks, 37 percent of the initially-opposed parents opted for the vaccine for their children.

"We were concerned that parents may worry about vaccinating their children because it could be viewed as condoning sexual activity at an earlier age," Dr. Daron G. Ferris, director of the college's Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Center, said in a statement at the time. "Our study showed that this is not the case."

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