Forget weapons of mass destruction, forget terrorism, forget Robert Mugabe, Scientology, Tom Cruise and all the other terrifying things that make our world a minefield and make the concept of the 1930s bunker of war seem a little less ridiculous.
All of that is bad, I grant, but the truly scary things, the things you can’t see and don’t really understand but want to kill you anyway, come from inside your own body. We are miraculous beings. Essentially we are sacs of fluid with other sacs within us that perform very specific functions. Very complex machinery drives a very complex process and we put one foot in front of the other and we call it walking. This we do and take for granted.
Sometimes things go wrong and we learn too late not to take things for granted anymore.
Sometimes we get sick. Sometimes we contract a virus. I bet you think you know where this is going. But no, different viruses, different effects, more hope. With this one, it’s actually possible to have a happy ending.
HPV is not the most disgusting job in the world, but it is scary nonetheless. It’s scary because unless you really look for it, it’s virtually undetectable, it’s scary because it’s common as dirt, and it’s scary because while it may be almost completely harmless, it can cause cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer. .
The virus, as stated, is very common, up to 80% of all sexually active women will have had it at some point in their lives. 80%! Most will never know. It has virtually no symptoms and therefore goes unnoticed by almost everyone who suffers from it. 90% of women who suffer from it will eliminate it themselves with the help of their immune system. The problem is the other 10%. If the virus is not cleared, abnormal cells may develop in the lining of the cervix, called CIN cells (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia cells), which can then become cancerous.
If detected early, cervical cancer can be successfully treated. The recurrence rate for cervical cancer is low. There are several types of treatment including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Surgery options include: electrosurgery – an electrical current kills cancer cells; cryosurgery: a freezing process destroys cells; laser therapy – a laser beam burns cells; Conization or cone biopsy: A cone-shaped piece of tissue is removed from the cervix.
If you are one of those people who has come to think that cancer is no worse than pneumonia, because there are so many different types of therapies and vaccines and, “virtually everyone doesn’t recover these days anyway?” Then maybe you should read the next few lines.
In Europe, cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women aged 15-44 (breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death). Around 40 women die every day from cervical cancer in Europe. This is in Europe, the developed world. In the developing world things are much worse, take some statistics from South Africa for example. Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in black women at 31.2%. In white women the figure is only 2.7%. That says a lot about access to doctors and testing facilities, but before anyone gets upset about that fact, we need to add some important information. Cultural factors must also be taken into account. In some black cultures, women see their wombs and vaginas as belonging to their husbands, so when they have to get smears (they call it “foot dangling”), it’s completely at odds with what they culturally believe because they have to give you access to another person. what is essentially the property of their husbands. You may not agree with it. You do not have to do it. However, thanks to many programs sponsored by many non-profit organizations, this perception is changing and more and more women are coming to get tested and treated.
This is a disease that can have a happy ending. Much depends on early detection and treatment, but as in all other diseases, much depends on the attitude of the patient. A healthy, positive attitude, the love and support of family and friends will do more good than medication alone. It can be your mother, sister, daughter or friend, your wife, girlfriend or niece, if you love her, tell her.