End of the Pap Smear

Hopefully I don't have to define a pap smear, but just in case : Papanicolaou test for HPV.

A very interesting article on DNA testing that could- or should- replace the pap smear.

The study [on the DNA testing compared to Pap smears] is “another nail in the coffin” for Pap smears, which will “soon be of mainly historical interest,” said Dr. Paul D. Blumenthal, a professor of gynecology at Stanford medical school...

Cervical cancer was a leading cause of death for American women in the 1950s; it now kills fewer than 4,000 a year. In poor and middle-income countries, where the cancer kills more than 250,000 women a year, cost is a factor, but the test’s maker, Qiagen, with financing from the Gates Foundation, has developed a $5 version and the price could go lower with enough orders, the company said.

The author highlights that it is actually doctors who are slow to pick up, for a number of reasons, including using the Pap to get patients in.

From Women's Bioethic Project, where there is some interesting discussion in the comments.