Whats cervical cancer?!
Question: how do girls know they have it? do women die from it? can the shot actually help prevent it?
Answers: how do girls know they have it? do women die from it? can the shot actually help prevent it?
Hey CutiePie, check out the comments in your mammographer/sonographer question....I had something to add, and your profile does not allow e-mail.
For this question:
Cervical cancer is detected from Pap Smears done by a doctor and those cells evaluated under a microscope by a pathologist. If a woman has any of the symptoms of cervical cancer, it is an advanced cancer.
Women do die from it.
"About 3,670 women will die from cervical cancer in the United States during 2007."
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/cont...
The shot is used to prevent HPV, which is the number one cause of cervical cancer. HPV is one of those nasty things that women can get from sexual activity.
It's cancer of your cervix, which is the first part of your uterus. It's diagnosed because it shows up on a pap smear. The shot doesn't prevent against all cervical cancer's, but it vaccinates against a disease that is responsible for a good percentage of cervical cancer cases. A lot of the time cervical cancer is curable by surgery.
Lots of women die of it- it has about a 50% fatality rate. That is why it is really important to go for regular pap smears- even if you have had the shot as the shot only protects against the most common strains of the virus that cause cervical cancer (you could contract a rarer strain). Most women have no symptoms, thus the importance of smears. Some people have back pain, bleeding between periods and pain during intercourse but these are common symptoms of other conditions too and lots of people who are diagnosed with cervical cancer had no symptoms. Roughly 1 in 123 women will develop cervical cancer, so its worth getting the vaccination and having regular pap smears.
Basically all of it is cause from HPV (Human Papilloma virus) otherwise known as Genital Warts.
You get it from having sex with a guy who has HPV.
The problem is, guys don't know they have it - it's not obvious, they actually have to be checked by a doctor to be sure, and it's really common, unfortunately.
You wouldn't be able to tell if a guy had it by looking.
Ask your guy to tell his doctor he wants to be checked for EVERY STD. I did, and I passed 100% clean!
I can't believe they don't do this as a routine, frankly. It's crazy that they don't ever check guys, or that there's not some equivalent of a gynecologist for men.
This is why the medical community is so excited about this new HPV vaccine that they're trying to get all girls to get - it prevents them getting infected, so they won't get cervical cancer later on!
You should absolutely ask your doc about this, it could save your life someday!
I don't know very much about the vaccine (it's still pretty new on the market), but cervical cancer is a change within the cells of the cervix. A pap smear is a test that is done usually once a year by either your family practice doctor/nurse practitioner or gynecologist/nurse midwife. The cells that are collected from that swab are sent off to a lab and looked at under a microscope. If any of the cells look abnormal your healthcare provider will contact you for either a follow up test or for possible biopsy. If left untreated any cancer can become fatal.
Good luck to you in your quest for knowledge.
you have to be sexually active to get it
yes the shot prevents it
Cervical cancer is cancer of the cervix. You are diagnosed by a medical professional with a procedure called a biopsy - a biopsy is performed sometimes when you have one or more abnormal results from your routine pap smears. Yes, women can die from it - untreated cancer spreads to other areas of the body. However, cervical cancer is VERY treatable, it just usually involves removing part of the cervix which can complicate future pregnancies.
The shot helps prevent a virus called HPV (you may know this as genital warts) which is a leading cause of cervical cancer. It will not prevent all types of cervical cancer, but it will greatly reduce your risk.
HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, and in my opinion, boys as well as girls should be vaccinated (since girls GET IT from boys...)