March 4th is International HPV and Cervical Cancer Awareness Day!
You may be familiar with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) from your regular pap smear appointments. You may even know that more than 95% of cervical cancer diagnoses are due to HPV. But do you know how the Jackalope helped us learn about HPV and Cervical Cancer?
What is a Jackalope?
I became interested in this topic after listening to a great 99% Invisible Podcast on the topic. I highly recommend taking a listen yourself!
The Jackalope is a mythical creature that looks like a rabbit with horns or antlers, most popular in the American Southwest. The tall tales go on: They are elusive and dangerous, they like whiskey, they only mate during lightning storms, and they can throw their voice like a ventriloquist!
The myths and the tall tales are distinctly American but the Jackalope appears in many cultural stories across many continents over hundreds of years. With a history this varied and long lasting, surely it couldn’t be a coincidence…
So what is the Jackalope, Really?
In the 1930’s Dr Richard Shope was reasearching viruses and their role in creating cancerous growths. He started researching a rabbit papillomavirus which created growths on the rabbits face and head which could be mistaken for horns. This research eventually lead to the discovery of the Human Papillomavirus and its role in creating cancerous growths on the cervix.
We were initially able to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer with regular Pap screening. This allowed us to find cervical cancers at an early, and more treatable, stage. Recent medical breakthroughs have introduced the HPV vaccine! This is the safest and most effective Cervical Cancer prevention we have available to us.
HPV Vaccination
The most important step is prevention! The vaccine can only prevent future infection, it cannot treat HPV. This is why it is so important to get the vaccine before someone is sexually active. You do not need to have a cervix to benefit from the HPV vaccine. In fact, the more people that are vaccinated the less likely that the strains of HPV that are most dangerous will spread.
How Can Pelvic Floor PT Help?
If you have pain during pelvic exams, you may avoid pap smear screening appointments. If you are not getting screened regularly, you might miss the early stages of cervical cancer. Pelvic floor PT can help you learn to relax your pelvic floor muscles to reduce pain and get you back to routine preventative care.
Treatment for cervical cancer can often involve surgical removal of cancerous tissue. For early stage cancer, a cone biopsy may be adequate. For some advanced cancers, hysterectomy and chemotherapy or radiation may be necessary. Pelvic floor PT can help with scar tissue healing, pelvic floor muscle spasm, and lymphedema if pelvic lymph nodes were removed.