Kelly Ang | kellyang@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication
May 26, 2008
Story Highlights:
- Cervical cancer is prevalent among women in Singapore
- HPV types 16 and 18 cause more than 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases
- The sexually active have a very high chance of getting a HPV infection at least once in their lives, as HPV is mainly transmitted via sexual contact
- Several co-factors work in tandem with HPV types 16 and 18 to increase a woman’s chance of getting cervical cancer
- Cervical cancer can be detected in its earlier stages by going for regular Pap smears once every three years
Cervical cancer is deadly, and the numbers paint a chilling picture.
The fifth most common type cancer among women in Singapore, cervical cancer has a 50 percent fatality rate – approximately 200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Singapore each year, out of which an estimated 100 will die.
So just what causes cervical cancer?
National University Hospital’s senior consultant in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Dr Jeffrey Low, said that 70% of all cervical cancer cases originate from two particularly nasty types of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), types 16 and 18.
An estimated 630 million people worldwide are infected with some type of HPV.
“HPV infection is very common among sexually active people, as HPV is mainly transmitted through sexual contact,” Dr Low said.
While there are more than 100 types of HPV, the majority of them are relatively harmless.
As such, HPV infection in itself is not really a problem.
Says Dr Low, “HPV only poses harm when particular types of HPV manifest themselves in forms like genital warts (caused by HPV types 6 and 11) or cause pre-cancerous changes in the cervix.”
The deadliest consequence of HPV is cervical cancer.
However, not all persons infected with types 16 and 18 of HPV will necessarily have cervical cancer.
Several co-factors work in tandem with HPV types 16 and 18 to increase a woman’s chance of having cervical cancer.
According to Dr Low, some of these co-factors include lifestyle habits like smoking, having sex before the age of 18, and having multiple sexual partners, as well as medical conditions like being HIV positive, and the immunity-suppressed.
While there is currently no anti-viral medication to treat HPV, the natural immunity of young women usually gets rid of the virus almost immediately. This is the case for the majority of the harmless types.
The good news is – there has been a recent development of a HPV vaccine by the name of Gardasil. This vaccine inoculates against the four major types of harmful HPV infections; types 16 and 18 (that causes cervical cancer), and types 6 and 11 (that causes genital warts).
Regular Pap smears, a simple test that carried out in most doctors’ clinics can detect early changes in the cervix before the onset of cancer.
However, many women are uncomfortable about going for Pap smears because they think that any anomalies in the cervix will be associated with sexual activity, a taboo and sensitive topic in society even today.
As Mrs Alina Xu*, 49, who is a mother of two puts it, “Cervical cancer is not something many women would want to talk about, I think. Many people associate cervical cancer with promiscuity and sexual activity.”
Nonetheless, Dr Low advises women between the ages of 25 to 70 who have had sexual intercourse before to go for regular Pap smears every three years.
He strongly recommends this even for women who have not been sexually active for quite some time.
For more information on cervical cancer, visit the Everything I Can campaign website at http://www.Everything-iCan.com.sg.
*Name has been changed at her request to protect her privacy.
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