A new study has found that screening for a virus linked to cervical cancer could help prevent 70% more women from contracting the disease.
Trials have showed that screening for the HPV virus (human papilloma virus) would offer better protection than traditional smear tests.
The HPV virus is found in 99% of cancer cases.
Professor Julietta Patnick, director of NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, has hailed the results as ‘incredibly exciting’.
She explained: “The relationship between HPV and cervical cancer has long been established, with the virus being found in over 99 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
“The new study suggests that by using HPV for primary screening we could protect 60-70 per cent more women from cervical cancer than the current method.”
After four trials were carried out on women ages between 20-64, the results were published in The Lancet medical journal.
The study followed 175,000 women over six-and-a-half years in England, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands.
Screening could protect 70% more women from contracting cervical cancer
Women on the study were divided into two groups, those taking regular smear tests and those who were tested for the HPV virus.
Cancer rates for the first two-and-a-half years were more or less the same, but after this period, the group who ere tested for the HPV virus had fewer cancer sufferers.
Professor Patnick recommends that women over 30 are tested for the HPV virus every five years.
The professor suggests that women who are found to have the virus be selected for a follow up smear test and referred for cervical examination screening.
