Chlamydia and cervical cancer: is there a connection?
by Mary Calvagna
Cervical cancer is one of the three most prevalent cancers in women worldwide. About 15,000 American women are diagnosed yearly and it is estimated that almost 4,600 women will die this year from cervical cancer. The devastating fact is that with early diagnosis, the disease is almost 100% curable.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the leading cause of cervical cancer. (HPV one of the most common sexually transmitted disease is the virus that causes genital warts.) Additional factors that put women at increased risk for cervical cancer are smoking and other sexually transmitted infections.
Chlamydia: the silent epidemic
Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the United States, with an estimated 3 million cases occurring annually. It is especially threatening to public health because it usually has no symptoms?up to 85% of women and 40% of men with chlamydia are not aware they have the disease.
Once diagnosed, chlamydia can be easily treated. Left untreated though, chlamydia can cause severe health problems, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. And now, research is suggesting that it may also lead to cervical cancer. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association* looked at the association between chlamydia and cervical cancer.
Finding a connection
Researchers compared data from stored blood samples of 530,000 Nordic women to cancer registries within Sweden, Norway, and Finland. They focused their study on 128 women who developed cervical cancer at least 12 months following the blood donation. Researchers compared these women with 384 women who did not develop cervical cancer.
Women who had antibodies (chemicals developed by the body when it is exposed to a disease) to chlamydia in their blood were more than twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than women who did not have these antibodies. These results provide strong evidence that infection with chlamydia may be one of the causes of cervical cancer.
Get tested regularly
Because of the potential health risks, early diagnosis and treatment of chlamydia is critical. Your health care provider can screen for it during a routine pap test, but you may have to request the test because it is usually not included in a standard exam. If you are treated for chlamydia, your partner must be treated too. And because there are usually no symptoms associated with chlamydia, if you are sexually active even if you feel healthy it's a good idea to be tested periodically.
Resources
* "Serotypes of Chlamydia trachomatis and risk of development of cervical squamous cell carcinoma," by T Anttile, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association, January 3, 2001, Volume 285, Number 1, pp. 47-51.
Last reviewed March 2001 by Medical Review Board
