Cervical Cancer: A Case Study

Cervical Cancer is a type of cancer that is formed in the tissues of the cervix, which is located between the lower part of the uterus and the opening of the vagina. Cancers develop when cells in the body get excited and grow out of control. A few things like having too many sexual partners or leaving in birth control for too long can factor into the development of cervical cancer but the majority of cases are due to a sexually transmitted disease (STI). Even though all women can run the risk of developing cancer, women who are over the age of thirty develop cervical cancer because the transformation from an STI to cervical cancer is a very slow process (“Basic Information”, 2014). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
There is a vaccine available to help prevent cervical cancer from developing. Treatment options are also available for women who are unfortunate enough to get it.The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the sexually transmitted infection that is known to be the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV is a non-enveloped double stranded DNA virus that can be grouped into group one of the Baltimore Classification System (Radosevich, 2012, p. 6). Since it is transmitted by sexual intercourse, it is very common that most people get it at some point in their lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over forty types of HPV documented that infects the genital area of male and females (“What Is HPV”, 2016). Most of the cervical cancer cases deals with HPV 16 or HPV 18. HPV usually has no symptoms so you cannot tell that you have it, but that is okay for most women because it usually goes away on its own. Unfortunately, if the HPV stays in your system it can lead to cervical cancer. This causative agent goes through the lysogenic cycle in the basal cells of the squamous epithelium to synthesize a huge number of viral
There is also no warning signs when HPV is developing into the early stages of cancer. In the advanced stage, females may experience abnormal discharge. They may also have abnormal bleeding. Their periods can become real light, extra heavy, or they can experience having no periods at all. Bleeding after sex has also been classified as a symptom in the advanced stage of cervical cancer. Those symptoms; however, can be due to another problem so it is important to make an appointment with a doctor.Cervical Cancer can be prevented. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that eleven or twelve year olds boys and girls get HPV vaccines (“HPV Vaccines”, 2016). Gardasil is the name of the vaccine and it is for males and females. The vaccine was a series of three shots given over a six month period. It is now recommended that eleven and twelve year olds receive only two doses of the vaccine over a six month time frame because of a clinical trial that showed a production of an immune response from an age group of nine through fourteen year olds similar or higher than the response from an age group of sixteen through twenty-six year olds that received the previous recommended three doses of the vaccine (“CDC Recommends”,