January, 2010

Ukiah, California – Approximately 10,000 American women will learn they have cervical cancer/HPV this year, and nearly 4,000 will die from an advanced form of the disease. This January, during Cervical Health Awareness month, the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) and the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County are focused on educating women about the importance of the Pap test as a screening tool for cervical cancer/HPV and about vaccines that can further reduce the burden of this devastating disease.

It’s the start of a new year—a time many reflect on their health. To start the year right, we encourage women to contact their health care provider to schedule a Pap test to check for cervical cancer. In Ukiah, in addition to local gynecologists, the Family Planning Department at Mendocino County Public Health and the Hillside Health Clinic offer Pap tests. This screening is a crucial part of a woman’s health care regimen, yet one that many overlook. “It’s important to remember that cervical cancer is a preventable disease, as long as it’s caught early enough,” says Ms. Sarina Araujo, Executive Director of the NCCC. Here are current guidelines for screening:

• Cervical Cancer Screening should begin 3 years after first starting sexual activity, but not later than 21 years old.
• Women should have a Pap test at least once every 3 years.
• Women 65 to 70 years of age who have had at least three normal Pap tests and no abnormal Pap tests in the last 10 years may decide, upon consultation with their healthcare provider, to stop cervical cancer screening.
• Women who have had a total hysterectomy (removal of the uterus and cervix) do not need to undergo cervical cancer screening, unless the surgery was done as a treatment for cervical precancer or cancer.

While routine administration of Pap tests is the best means of detecting cervical cancer at an early stage, vaccines have the potential to protect women from the disease, by targeting cancer-causing types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV, a virus transmitted through sexual contact, is the single known cause of cervical cancer. Two forms of the virus, HPV 16, and HPV 18, account for more than 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases. Some medical experts believe that through successful education, screening and vaccination program for women, we will have the potential to nearly eliminate cervical cancer in the U.S.

“These vaccines represent a major advancement in women’s health an in cancer prevention. With these new tools, we may be able to help ensure no woman in the United States has to endure cervical cancer,” says Juan C. Felix, MD, chairman of the NCCC medical advisory panel and chief of OB/GYN pathology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. “We hope these vaccines will make cervical cancer a concern of the past.”