Cervical Cancer has owed its malignant growth to HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus.  Pap smears detect about 10,000 cases of cervical cancer cases a year.  In the ranks of cancer, cervical cancer has slipped down to eighth place in the US.  In other countries it ranks as high as second, which is comparable to breast cancer in the United States.  But the 21st century has welcomed with it a new Cervical Cancer Vaccine, which is now officially included on childhood immunization schedules.  The demise of cervical cancer is sure to follow the footsteps of polio, smallpox and chickenpox. 

In June of 2006, The FDA unanimously approved Gardasil as the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.  HPV has had the reputation for being the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States for too long.  Estimates by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that over half of all sexually active men and women become infected with HPV.  However, that's all about to change.  According to the FDA, the vaccine is effective against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers and against HPV types 6 and 11, which cause approximately 90 percent of genital warts.

Normally, a woman's immune system will protect her from an HPV virus doing any harm.  However for some women, the virus sits and festers, surviving sometimes for years, until it seeps into the cells on the surface of cervix.  First, the virus appears merely as a viral infection.  Then the cells slowly progress into precancerous cells, also called "cervical intraepithelial neoplasia."  As the HPV virus exudes itself into the cervix, it converts healthy cells to cancerous cells. 

There are many different types of HPV, and two main types of cervical cancer.  Squamous cell carcinomas is the most common type of cervical cancer, and adenocarcinoma is the less common, although it is increasing in frequency with the new generation.  Some women are more likely to develop cancer than others.  The precancerous cells will disappear on their own in most healthy women, but in other not so lucky ones, the cells will continue to develop into a deadly growth.  Doctors have not yet discovered why women's bodies react differently to the virus.  Studies do show that smoking raises the risk of cervical cancer, and since HPV is sexually transmitted, having more than one partner is also a significant risk factor.  However, a woman can be infected even if she has had only one partner.

Cervical Cancer patients may not realize they have cervical cancer until they experience abnormal vaginal bleeding.  Fortunately, regular pap smears have been instrumental in finding cervical abnormalities and are credited with the steady decline of later stage cervical cancer.  Unfortunately, the American Cancer Society still expects over 3000 deaths in the year 2007 due to cervical cancer.  With the new cervical cancer vaccine attacking the HPV virus, it is hopeful that the next generation will be healthy enough to look back and say, "we have cured cancer."