DOH: Teenage girls contracting cervical cancer
Here’s one reason teenage girls should avoid having premarital sex.
More than half of the 6,670 cases of cervical cancer in the country were contracted by teenage girls last year, the Department of Health in Central Visayas said yesterday.
Dr. Jeanette Pauline Cortes, head of the regional DOH’s noncommunicable diseases division, spoke in a forum on cancer awareness at the regional DOH office.
Cervical cancer is caused by the human papillovirus (HPV). It is acquired through early intercourse, frequent change of partners, smoking and early pregnancies.
Women in their 40s and 50s are vulnerable to the disease. Symptoms include abnormal blood discharge from the vagina, pain and bleeding during intercourse.
Dr. Cortes said girls as young as 10 to 14 years old should avail of HPV vaccination.
Dr. Cortes also urged women to be examined regularly to check for breast cancer.
She said 18,327 women have breast cancer in the country based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) last year.
Aside from breast and cervical cancer, other ailments afflicting women include colorectal cancer with 3,878 cases; lung cancer with 3,252 cases; and ovarian cancer with 2,425 cases.
For men, lung cancer cases continue to top other ailments with 8,822 cases followed by liver cancer with 5,441 cases, prostate cancer with 4,858 cases, colorectal with 4,675 cases and leukemia with 2,027 cases.
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