At-home HPV tests attempt to reduce cervical cancer rates
Getting screened for strains of the cervical cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) can be difficult for many women, but not getting tested can have deadly consequences. In 2019, an estimated 4,250 women will die from invasive cervical cancer — a number that, the American Cancer Society notes, has not changed much in 15 years. To bring that number down, some companies are trying to bring HPV tests out of the doctors’ offices and into women’s homes.
“Half of the cervical cancers that continue to occur in the US are amongst women who rarely screen or have never been screened,” says Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe, program director in the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute. Notably, a Centers for Disease Control and...