WOMEN may only need one smear test in their lifetime thanks to a new vaccine, an expert has said.
The HPV vaccine is leading to such dramatic reductions in cervical cancer that it could spell the end of regular check-ups.
Currently, women and people with a cervix are invited to get a smear every three years, or five years above the age of 50.
But leading cancer prevention scientist Professor Peter Sasieni, the academic director of King’s Clinical Trials Unit, said this could soon change due to the encouraging results from the new HPV vaccine.
He told BBC Radio 4: “This is really exciting…. (The HPV vaccine) protects against even more types of the virus, and I think with that probably one screen would be enough, maybe two, over a lifetime.
“We really want to make those changes over the next couple of years, it is a big change [but] the vaccine has been so successful this makes perfect sense.”
In the meantime, Cancer Research UK is still urging people to come forward for screening, after a dip in the number of women coming forward when the pandemic hit.
HPV vaccines have been given to teenage girls since 2008 to prevent cancer in later life, and boys since 2019.
In the first 10 years, the jabs slashed cervical cancer rates by 87 per cent, research from Prof Sasieni’s team revealed in November 2021.
He said that the impact was “greater than we predicted” and could see the disease eradicated.
HPV can cause cancer of the cervix – but also of the anus, penis and upper throat, which is why the vaccine programme was extended to boys.
The virus is passed through sexual contact and most people will get it at some point in their life. It clears on its own in around two years without any problems.
But in some people, it could lead to either genital warts or abnormal changes in the cells that could become cancerous.
There are more than 100 types of HPV, some of which are “high risk” because they can lead to cancer.
For example, high risk types of HPV can be found in more than 99 per cent of cervical cancers.
The HPV vaccines protect against nine of the most serious HPV types, thus slashing the risk of 95 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
