How cervical screening helps prevent cancer
Cervical screening is not a test for cancer, it's a test to help prevent cancer. It checks a sample of cells from your cervix for high risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV).
High risk HPV can cause abnormal changes to the cells in your cervix.
If high risk types of HPV are found during screening, the sample of cells is also checked for abnormal cell changes.
If abnormal cells are found, they can be treated to help prevent cervical cancer.
What HPV is
HPV is the name for a very common group of viruses.
Most people will get some type of HPV during their lives. It's very common and nothing to feel ashamed or embarrassed about. Some high risk types of HPV can cause certain types of cancer, including cervical cancer.
You can get HPV from any kind of skin-to-skin contact of the genital area, not just from penetrative sex.
This includes:
- vaginal, oral or anal sex
- any skin-to-skin contact of the genital area
- sharing sex toys
In most cases your body will get rid of HPV without it causing any problems. But sometimes HPV can stay in your body for a long time.
If high risk types of HPV stay in your body, they can cause changes to the cells in your cervix. These changes may become cervical cancer if not treated.
If you do not have a high risk type of HPV it's very unlikely you'll get cervical cancer, even if you've had abnormal cell changes in your cervix before.
Who's at risk of cervical cancer
If you have a cervix and have had any kind of sexual contact, with a man or a woman, you could get cervical cancer. This is because nearly all cervical cancers are caused by infection with high risk types of HPV.
Find out more about the causes of cervical cancer
You're still at risk of cervical cancer if:
- you've had the HPV vaccine – it does not protect you from all types of HPV, so you're still at risk of cervical cancer
- you've only had 1 sexual partner – you can get HPV the first time you're sexually active
- you've had the same partner or not had sex for a long time – you can have HPV for a long time without knowing it
- you're a lesbian or bisexual – you're at risk if you've had any sexual contact
- you're a trans man with a cervix
- you've had a partial hysterectomy that did not remove all of your cervix
If you're not sure whether to have cervical screening, talk to your GP or nurse.
If you've never had any kind of sexual contact with a man or woman, you may decide not to go for cervical screening when you're invited. But you can still have a test if you want to.