American Cancer Society recommends self-administered HPV test

The American Cancer Society is now recommending FDA-approved self-swab vaginal HPV tests for cervical cancer screening. For average-risk people between 25 and 65 clinician testing is still preferred but self-collected samples are acceptable. The Cancer Society says self-collection may reduce barriers to screening, noting that cervical cancer rates have significantly decreased the past 50 years because of screening practices that began in the middle of the 20^th century. An estimated 200,000 women in the U.S. require treatment for a precancer each year, but for reasons mostly related to nonadherence to screening recommendations, it’s estimated that more than 13,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in 2025, with 4,320 deaths.