What would happen if there was no cervix?

The uterus is like our hands and feet. Although it is inside the belly, it is very important. If there is a problem with the uterus, it will cause our body to gradually fail and complex organs will also have problems. Therefore, we cannot live without the uterus. Many women need to remove their uterus or cervix due to illness. This will cause certain damage to the body and the vitality may also be affected.

HPV: A "passer-by" in women's lives

HPV is a virus called human papillomavirus, and its detection rate in cervical cancer is as high as 93% to 100%. Because the squamous-columnar junction of the female cervix is ​​easily infected with HPV, but this infection is transient, the virus will generally be cleared by the body's immune system within two years. If there is a problem with the body's immunity and HPV cannot be cleared after being infected, resulting in persistent HPV infection, it can easily lead to cervical cancer.

In fact, HPV is not just one type. In terms of classification, it has more than 100 types, of which more than 40 can infect human genitals, but the ones that cause cervical cancer are mainly subtypes 16, 18, 31, and 33. Therefore, it is meaningful to do HPV testing, which can find out whether you are at risk of cervical cancer.

Thinking: If you are infected with HPV, will you definitely get cervical cancer?

Depending on whether it can cause cancer, it is divided into two types: low-risk and high-risk. Persistent high-risk HPV infection may lead to cervical precancerous lesions. The main route of infection is sexual contact, but this is not the only channel. HPV infection has been found in children and virgins. Moreover, HPV infection is a very common thing. Under normal circumstances, HPV will be cleared by the human immune system, and only a small part of the infection will become a persistent infection.

Therefore, infection with HPV does not necessarily cause cancer. Even if it is a persistent high-risk infection (more than 2 years), which leads to precancerous lesions of the cervix, it takes a long process (10-15 years) from precancerous lesions to cancer.

So currently, HPV screening is suitable for people over 30 years old. Because short-term infections are more common, even if the screening test is positive, there is a high possibility that it will be cleared by the body after a period of time. Some experts also recommend screening for women who have had sexual activity for more than three years or who are over 21 years old.