Simple vinegar test cuts cervical cancer deaths

More than 99 per cent of cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus. Photo: ALAMY

CHICAGO, June 2: A simple vinegar test cut cervical cancer rates among Indian women by nearly a third and could prevent 73,000 deaths worldwide each year, the authors of a large-scale study said Sunday.

Wealthy countries have managed to reduce such fatalities by 80 per cent thanks to the widespread use of regular Pap smears that can detect the disease at an early, treatable stage.

But it remains the leading cause of cancer death among women in India and many other developing countries lacking the money, doctors, nurses or laboratories for widespread screening.

The inexpensive vinegar test, which has a comparable accuracy to Pap smears, offers a solution to that problem.

A primary health care worker swabs the woman’s cervix with vinegar, which causes pre-cancerous tumours to turn white.

The results are known a minute later when a bright light is used to visually inspect the cervix. Aside from the cost savings, the instantaneous results are a major advantage for women in rural areas who might otherwise have to travel for hours to see a doctor.

The test could also be useful in the United States, where 40pc of women do not get treatment following an abnormal Pap smear, said Electra Paskett, a gynaecological cancer expert at Ohio State University.

“We have a problem with follow-up,” Paskett said at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago where the study was presented.

“The thing in their programme that was really wonderful is they assured follow-up—their completion rate was phenomenal.”

The randomised study of 150,000 women living in Mumbai slums found that the vinegar test was able to reduce cervical cancer deaths by 31pc through early detection and treatment.

The 15-year study also found that the vinegar test sidesteps a common problem of overdiagnosis.

The incidence of cervical cancer was essentially the same among the women who were screened every other year and those who were simply taught how to watch for warning signs.

Source: AFP