Women may only need to get one smear test in their lives thanks to the success of the HPV vaccine, according to a leading cancer scientist.
People who have had the jab for the human papillomavirus are currently invited for a screening every three to five years in the UK.
Professor Peter Sasieni, the academic director of King’s Clinical Trials Unit Professor, said women may only need one check in their lives thanks to encouraging results from the HPV vaccine.
He told BBC Radio 4: “This is really exciting…. (The HPV vaccine) protects against even more types of the virus, and I think with that probably one screen would be enough, maybe two, over a lifetime.”
In the meantime, Cancer Research UK is still urging people to come forward for screening.
According to the BBC, nearly all cases of cervical cancer are caused by human papillomaviruses – known as HPV – and there are more than 100 types.
As the virus is spread by close skin-to-skin contact, the vaccine is ideally given before a person becomes sexually active.
What is HPV?
HPV is the name of a very common group of viruses. They do not cause any problems in most people, but some types can cause genital warts or cancer, according to the NHS.
Many types of HPV affect the mouth, throat or genital area. They're easy to catch. You do not need to have penetrative sex.
HPV has no symptoms, so you may not know if you have it. It's very common. Most people will get some type of HPV in their life.
Most of the time HPV does not cause any problems.
In some people, some types of HPV can cause:
- genital warts
- abnormal changes in the cells that can sometimes turn into cancer
HPV types linked to cancer are called high-risk types.
Cancers linked to high-risk HPV include:
- cervical cancer
- anal cancer
- cancer of the penis
- vulval cancer
- vaginal cancer
- some types of head and neck cancer
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