ALL over the world, cervical cancer kills more than 300,000 women, and 500,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.  It is the second most common killer of women in the Asia-Pacific region, where a woman loses her life to the disease every four minutes. In the Philippines, 6,000 women develop cervical cancer annually and an estimated 4,300 of them die from the disease. Two-thirds of these cases are diagnosed in the advanced stages, when mortality is high, and 56 percent of them will die within five years from the time of diagnosis.

Cervical cancer is caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). There are over 100 different viruses with at least 30 strains known to cause different types of cancer. HPV is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact through vaginal, anal or oral sex with a partner who already has HPV. If infected, signs and symptoms may take weeks, months or years to appear or not at all. HPV normally appears in the form of genital warts that look like cauliflower or, sometimes, flat growths. They can be found inside and outside the vagina.

Those who have a high risk of contracting the disease are women with previous cervical dysplasia; those with numerous sexual partners, or whose male sexual partners have had other sexual partners who ultimately developed cervical neoplasia; women who began having sexual intercourse at an early age; women with current or prior HPV infection or condylomata; women with a history of smoking or abuse of other substances; those with a weakened immune system; and women who have given birth to many children.

“All women are at risk of developing cervical cancer,” said Professor Cecilia Ladines-Llave, chairman of the Cancer Institute, University of Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, vice president of the Asia-Oceania Research Organization in Genital Infection and Neoplasia Philippines, and program director of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Network Alliance Program in the Philippines.

“While most HPV infections clear up naturally, some remain and may develop changes in the cervical cells that may lead to cervical cancer, often after many years and without warning signs,” Llave added.

“The risk of cervical cancer increases with age, affecting women at the prime of their lives, usually between the age of 30 and 50 years, often while they are working and still responsible for children or other family members,” added Dr. Diane Harper, professor of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, Dartmouth College, and Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Community & Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a director of gynecological cancer-prevention research at Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon.

The sad news is there is no cure for this killer. The good news is that it can be prevented. GlaxoSmithKline Philippines recently announced the availability of its cervical cancer vaccine, called Cervarix, which is indicated in both young and older women (10 years of age onwards) for the prevention of cervical cancer. It is the first vaccine proven to provide 100-percent protection against HPV types 16 and 18, which together are responsible for over 70 percent of cervical-cancer cases in the Asia-Pacific region. It has also shown efficacy against persistent infection caused by other oncogenic HPV types. Cervarix is the only vaccine that has been formulated using the innovative adjuvant system called AS04, which is designed to enhance immune response and increase the duration of protection against cancer-causing HPV types.

The primary vaccination course for Cervarix consists of three doses, given at zero, one and six months, and the vaccine can be given to girls as young as 10 or before the onset of sexual activity.

Women may also reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer by getting regular Pap smears, limiting themselves to one sexual partner, using a condom, quitting smoking or avoiding secondhand smoke. 

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A proactive fight against cervical cancer

ALL over the world, cervical cancer kills more than 300,000 women, and 500,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.  It is the second most common killer of women in the Asia-Pacific region, where a woman loses her life to the disease every four minutes.

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