Of about a hundred different strains, some of them from the sexually transmitted infection Human Papillomavirus or the HPV virus as commonly known, are responsible for causing cervical cells to transform into cancerous ones. Cervical Cancer that occurs in the cells of the cervix – the tunnel-like tissue that connects the uterus with the vagina – is most commonly an effect of HPV-16 and HPV-18.
Even as the body’s immune system typically prevents the virus from doing harm, the virus ends up surviving for years in a small percentage of people, thereby aiding the process that causes the cells in the cervix to become cancerous.
How would you know?
It’s trickier than you think. Being infected with a cancer-causing strain of HPV doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be prone to cervical cancer. Early-stage cervical cancers generally produce no signs or symptoms, but more-advanced stages show signs such as vaginal bleeding during intercourse, between periods or after menopause; watery, bloody vaginal discharge which may be heavy and have a foul odour; pelvic pain or pain during intercourse.
What should you do?
Nothing beats the risk of developing cervical cancer like an early screening test, like the Papanicoloau Smear or Pap Smear, which is a microscopic examination of cells scraped from the cervix to detect cancerous or pre-cancerous conditions of the cervix or other medical conditions. The Pap smear is a screening method that looks for changes in the transformation zone of the cervix, which most often are caused by HPV.
Next in line, the ThinPrep 2000 & ThinPrep 5000 are intended as a replacement for the conventional Pap smear, which can make multiple slides from a single cytology sample and utilises proven ThinPrep technology for cell dispersion, collection and transfer which fits into any laboratory.
There’s enough research to prove that at the onset of 21 years, women should undergo cervical cancer screening regardless of their risk factors for HPV acquisition. For young women between the ages of 21 and 29 years with normal cytology, screening should be repeated no sooner than 3 years.
At Trivitron, we are on a global mission of making healthcare affordable and accessible to lay emphasis on providing cost-effective solutions for cervical cancer screening, and to achieve a new standard in cervical cancer testing with respect to accuracy and efficiency.