01 Oct Can YOU get cervical cancer?
Cancer does not only affect the person who is suffering from it, it affects the entire family. It is only after someone we love is affected with this disease that we truly understand the magnitude of it. Even after its many advancements, the one thing medical science has not been able to provide us with is a sure-shot cure for cancer. And with the sheer number of cancers that can affect us, we are always scared of ourselves or our loved ones succumbing to this potentially deadly disease.
What if we were to tell you, you may lose your mother, sister, daughter, wife or friend to a type of cancer that could actually be prevented. Cervical Cancer (cancer of the cervix) is the only 100% preventable cancer. Ironically, also the deadliest. In India, itself, 67,000 women die of this cancer every year.
CAPED aims through this series of blogs is to be able to provide enough information about cervical cancer so that anybody after reading them can educate themselves and the people around them about the disease and in doing so help save as many women and their families from the hardships of cancer.
To begin to understand the reason that makes cervical cancer so different from its counterparts, it is important to understand the cause of this disease. The only reason that this particular cancer is 100% preventable is that it actually starts off as a viral infection.
Cervical cancer starts with abnormalities in the cells of the cervix. These abnormalities, if left untreated develop into invasive cancer over a period of time. Thus, the underlying cause of cervical cancer is the cause of the changes and abnormalities in the cells
HPV is the main cause
HPV or the Human Papilloma Virus is the main reason that cells in the cervix undergo changes or dysplasia. HPV is a kind of a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) and some particular types of the following virus are thought to hinder the normal working of the cell which cause them to reproduce uncontrollably and cause cancerous tumors.
Not all HPV cause cervical cancer
The thing to note here is that HPV is not just a single virus. It is a collection of about 150 different kinds of viruses. These different types of viruses are commonly called strains. The silver lining is the fact that only few specific strains of the virus have the ability to bring out changes in the cell that ultimately lead to cancer. Most of the strains of this virus are responsible for genital or skin warts or other skin disorders.
How can one catch an HPV infection?
HPV, usually, is spread through sexual intercourse. It is a kind of virus that is spread through the skin-to-skin contact of the genital areas. They can also be spread through sharing sex toys and also through anal or oral sex. HPV only affects the cells on the surface of the skin and lining of the genitals, anus, mouth or throat and is not found to affect internal organs like the lungs or the heart.
Not everyone with an infection has cancer
For anybody who is sexually active, catching an HPV infection is normal. The virus is usually present on the lining of the genitals of both the man and the woman. Both their bodies have the ability to clear this infection like any other foreign infection. An HPV infection can be completely eradicated from a woman’s body within 2 years. However, sometimes, due to other added factors, the infection persists and depending on the strain of the virus can cause either warts or can also develop into cancer.
There are certain risk factors
Just like we discussed earlier, there are times when a woman’s body is unable to wash off the infection she is carrying. There are many factors that can affect the ability of a woman’s body to fight against the infection. These are termed as risk factors. Risk factors affect the ability of the body to fight off the HPV infection and in turn increases the chances of developing cervical cancer. These risk factors can be one or more of the following –
- Smoking – Women who smoke are twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than the general population. The effect of smoking stems from the presence of harmful chemical found in tobacco that interfere with the cells of the cervix.
- Weakened immune system – A weakened immune system can increase the chances of a woman developing cervical cancer many folds. Weakening of the immune system can be because of intake of immuno-suppressants, organ transplantation, treatment of another type of cancer or from an HIV infection. Apart from these not maintaining a proper lifestyle with healthy habits may also have a toll on your immune system.
- Having multiple sexual partners – The HPV infection is a sexually transmitted infection and spreads from skin-to-skin touch of the genitals. The more the number of sexual partners the more likely it is for you to catch a infection in the first place, thus also increasing the chances of development of cervical cancer.
- Having unprotected sex – Even though the use of contraceptive tools like condoms does not have a definite or direct effect on the probability of developing cancer, it reduces the risk of catching the HPV infection, however marginally.
- Family history – If members of your family have had cervical cancer in the past, it is more likely that you too will catch the disease as compared to if there is no precedent of the disease in the family. Research suggests that this tendency is caused due to an inherited condition that makes some women less equipped to fight off the infection than others.
- The chances of catching the infection and the cancer are also heightened by factors like being too young at the time of your first full term pregnancy or the use of oral contraceptives (birth control pills) for long periods of time. Also, the more the number of children you have increases the chances of your infection turning into cancer.
We cannot reiterate enough that cervical cancer is the only preventable cancer, provided it is detected and treated timely. Why delay it any further! Why take the risk of being just another statistic! Take the reign of your health into your own hands
Visit your gynaecologist now and help CAPED create a Cervical Cancer Mukt Bharat.
Author : Taru Medha (CAPED Intern)
Bibliography/Resources :
http://cancerindia.org.in/cervical-cancer/
https://www.cancer.gov/types/cervical/patient/cervical-prevention-pdq