Pap smears are no longer the best way to screen for cervical cancer
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. The new guidelines will prevent 13 percent more cervical cancers and 7 percent more cervical cancer deaths. (Pexels /)The American Cancer Society has updated its recommendations for cervical cancer screening to require less frequent tests and be easier to follow, the organization announced on July 30 in its publication CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The new guidelines bump up the recommended age for people with cervixes to begin screening from 21 to 25. Additionally, the organization now recommends testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV)—which is responsible for causing nearly all cases of cervical cancer—every five years without an accompanying Pap test.“The main way that [the new guidelines] will prevent more cancers is by facilitating screening,” says Debbie Saslow, the managing director of HPV and gynecological cancers at the American Cancer Society and one of the authors of...