Content area
Full Text
Argentina s Evita Peron died of cervical cancer in 1952. Women since then have had more of a fighting chance against the disease with the Pap smear. Young women today are even luckier, with the HPV vaccine
IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, ON July 26,1952, Eva Duarte de Perón, immortalized as Evita, entered her last hours. She was suffering from advanced cervical cancer. At 11p. m., she went into a coma and died later that night at the age of 33. Hernan Benitez, the Jesuit priest who performed her last rites, later acknowledged that "no one ever told her what she was suffering from."
Throughout the day, radios had been broadcasting updates on her rapidly deteriorating condition. Still, Argentines went into a state of shock when she died, and an estimated three million mourners filed past her casket to pay their last respects. Argentina truly cried for her.
It is estimated that cervical cancer kills a quarter of a million women a year worldwide. The cancer typically grows towards the pelvic side wall, and blocks the ureters, leading to renal failure, uremia and coma. Death-like Evita's-is usually peaceful. Sadly, it afflicts young women, with an average age of 38 to 42-women with a full life to be lived.
Cervical cancer is caused by certain types of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The virus has suffered two major blows in the last 60 years. The first one was the Pap smear, which reduced the incidence of invasive disease by 75% or more in developed countries. But today we face the joyful prospect of conquering this cancer: A vaccine against the HPV-named Gardasil-has been released in Canada.
But first, what about this cruel virus? In fact, HPV is not a single virus but a group of viruses, with more than 100...