The easy and perhaps the only way to curtail Cervical Cancer and STD’s in Women…!

Cervical cancer develops when there is a growing of cells in the vaginal area of the lower part of the uterus. It is India’s second most common type of cancer in women between 15 and 44 years of age.

In India, almost 70-80 percent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer are in an advanced stage, and treatment is not as effective. According to recent estimates, approximately 0.12 million women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and the disease claims more than 0.08 million lives each year.

Since January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, let us learn more about this type of cancer and what factors increase your risk of developing it.

Cervical cancer is associated with HPV infection, as the HPV virus is present in about 99 percent of cervical cancers.

The HPV virus is considered the greatest risk factor for cervical cancer, as certain types of the virus, such as HPV-16 and HPV-18, can transform normal cervical cells into abnormal ones that eventually lead to cervical cancer.

A cause for concern is the finding that about 5 percent of women are infected with HPV-16/18.

Penile HPV infection was associated with a fourfold increase in cervical HPV infection risk among female partners.

A Danish study that found 5-fold lower HPV prevalence in circumcised men concluded that “the female partners of circumcised men are less vulnerable to cervical cancer because they are less likely to be infected with HPV”.

Circumcised men when compared to uncircumcised men have also been shown in clinical trials, as to be less likely to acquire fresh infections with syphilis (by 42%), genital herpes (by 28% to 45%), genital ulcer disease (by 48%), apart from the high-risk strains of human papillomavirus associated with cancer (by 24% to 47% percent), as discussed previously in this article.