A TEST for the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer should replace the smear test as the basis of mass screening programmes, say researchers who have just done a trial involving 11,000 women.
Many countries around the world offer women a smear test every few years, in which cells scraped off the cervix are examined for signs of cancer. Such screening has reduced deaths from cervical cancer, cutting deaths by 40 per cent in the UK, for example. But a team led by Peter Sasieni of Cancer Research UK thinks a new screening method based on a test…
