Scientists are still looking for a better way to make a more accurate and less invasive approach to HPV testing. Today, choices to carry out cervical examinations are few, and the best facilities are intrusive Pap smears.
Ontario's Problem with Shifting Pap to HPV Test
A paramedic returns to their ambulance outside the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, on January 5, 2022.
Throughout the world, Ontario is one of the few that seemingly hesitates to participate in this transition. Canadian Partnership Against Cancer director Michelle Halligan explains that if they switch sooner to new methods, the clinics and hospitals might save hundreds or even thousands of individuals annually.
Halligan continued that the longer these improvements are put off, the longer the government puts off the possible benefits to lives and induces risks to their health.
The non-profit organization was built with the help of Canada's federal; government to meet the country's goals regarding cancer prevention and other related options.
This new HPV test is an advantage for almost everyone who wants to test themselves. Moreover, this huge step could be self-administered and must be processed by an individual once every five years.
Pap tests today are heavily used to test a person for conditions such as damaging cells in their cervix. However, this method is 50 percent less sensitive than the HPV tests, according to a study titled "Human papillomavirus DNA versus Papanicolaou screening tests for cervical cancer."
Based on the findings from the said paper, Pap smear screening might miss about half of the abnormalities from the cells that it should have detected. According to a separate study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, this is the main reason why frequent tests using the method are done every short time and require people to start taking it between 21 to 25 years of age, depending on the province.
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How Effective HPV Tests are for Cervical Cancer Prevention
The much easier HPV test only asks for a simple specimen from a Q-tip that was inserted into the genitals of a subject. Through this process, specialists get a hold of a more sensitive reaction that leads to a more accurate result, making screenings for cervical cancer prevention more effective.
According to a report by The Star, Ontario Health explained that the Canadian Ministry of Health said the switch to HPV test is a "large undertaking" and even announced in 2017 that a budget was targeted for funding the tests through the Ontario Cervical Screening Program.
On the contrary, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies reported in their 2019 economic evaluation that the massive shift to HOV tests would cut the entire country's cost for cervical cancer screenings, especially as it reduces the frequency of the tests.
Cervical cancer roots to the cell mutations occurring on the cervix, and tests would undoubtedly be helpful to detect these cells in their precancerous stage before even evolving into the deadly illness.
A study, titled "Projected estimates of cancer in Canada in 2022," shows that Canada's cervical cancer cases are confirmed in 7.5 individuals for every 100,000 people. The rate declined from 1978's whopping 20.07 per 100,000. The decrease in figures was observed in 2006, when the rates were 12.6 per 1000,000, a time during screening efforts were promoted more and HPV vaccines were introduced in schools.
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