Why the fuss about cervical cancer? Should only sexually active people worry? What about virgins?

I think that getting a vaccine for cervical cancer is a good idea for young women or young girls regardless of whether or not they are sexual active. I am 25 yr old single woman and I am a virgin by choice. Cervical cancer is more common in sexually active people but there are other factors..

1.smoking
2. being overweight.
5. inadequate diet.
6. oral contraceptives
7. many pregnancies or young pregnancies.
8. family history

I started at the gyno doctor at age 18 and a virgin.She started me on birth control pills bc of menstrual/ hormone irregularities. They also need to check for infections and do the ovary check test. There are other risk factors, if not then why would the gyno bother with the pap test on virgins too? I had to have one when I first went even though i was a virgin. The gyno may be better persuaded to do the pap especially if she knows her female patient is sexually active.

So, virgins can still get cervical cancer too.

Yes, any woman can develop cervical cancer. BUT, and it's a big one, there are some types of HPV that carry a high risk of causing some types of cervical cancer.

HPV is prevalent, very prevalent, and most people are unaware that they carry the virus. Now, however, there is a vaccine that can help to prevent HPV infections from causing particular types of cervical cancer.

But a non-virgin has a high risk of having already been exposed to the virus. This is why there is a push to vaccinate girls before they are sexually active.

You're being judgemental, and you're uninformed.

good question.
1st concerning the vaccine- in most cases cervical cancer is caused by the virus that causes genital warts, HPV. Many HPV sub- types cause warts, but only a few of these can also cause cancer. The vaccine is against the HPV sub-types most likely to cause cervical cancer. However, it protects against only 75-80% of the subtypes that cause cancer, so even with the vaccine women will need paps. And, yes, HPV is a STD.

Why get the vaccine if you are a virgin? Because, some day you may meet a guy and if he is not a virgin, then he might have HPV and pass it to you.

Why get a pap and annual exam if you are a virgin? As you mentioned there are other factors beside HPV that can lead to cervical cancer. Since the pap can detect the pre-cancer lesions before you even have cancer, it is important. Yes, the chances are very much smaller if you are a virgin, but why even take a small chance when you don't have to?
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/cri_2_...
It's not just non virgins who are at high risk for getting cervical cancer, virgins can get them as well, they wouldn't need pap smears if they weren't