Love Island's Shaughna Phillips has revealed she has tested positive for HPV.
The reality star, 28, opened up about the results of her smear test as she encouraged fans to book screening appointments.
In an update on Twitter she said: “Had my results back yesterday, I tested positive for HPV and have had borderline changes to some cells that require further examination.
“I’m scared but that’s okay. Thank god for screening. Ladies, book your smears.”
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme saves an estimated 5,000 lives a year, but despite this many people avoid attending their screening appointments when invited.
Here’s everything you need to know about what HPV and cervical cancer is, the symptoms to look out for and why smear tests are so important.
What is HPV?
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the name for a common group of viruses and is the most common form of sexually transmitted infection, according to the NHS.
HPV is very common, both men and women can get it and most of the time it doesn’t cause any problems or require any treatment.
However, sometimes HPV can cause genital warts or cancer.
Although both sexes can get HPV, conversations around testing usually centre on women because of the risk of cervical cancer.
HPV causes 99.7% of cervical cancers, the most common type of cancer in women under 35.
People with HPV are also at higher risk of developing other types of cancers, including anal cancer, cancer of the penis, vulval cancer, vaginal cancer and some types of neck and head cancer.
Symptoms of HPV and cervical cancer
Most of the time, people with HPV don’t have any symptoms, according to the NHS.
Sometimes HPV may result in warts on your penis, vulva or around your anus that cause irritation and discomfort.
Although HPV usually has no symptoms, there are some early symptoms of cervical cancer that you can look out for.
The NHS states:
- Vaginal bleeding
- Pain during sex
- Changes to your vaginal discharge
- Pain in your lower back, between your hip bones or in your lower tummy
Why are smear tests so important?
Cervical screenings, also known as smear tests, are so important because they are one of the best ways to protect yourself from cervical cancer.
Because HPV often doesn’t have any symptoms, you usually will not know that you have it unless you get a smear test.
While HPV can be harmless, having it detected in a test means that you can then have more tests to find out if you have high-risk HPV, or if there have been any changes to your cervical cells.
Detecting these things early can greatly reduce your chances of developing cervical cancer as it will allow you to have preventative treatment.
If you have abnormal cells, these could develop into cancer, but a smear test means that you can detect and get the cells treated before they do.
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