What causes cervical cancer and abnormal cervical cells?
Cervical cancer is caused by infection with certain types of a common virus, called human papillomavirus, or HPV. While other factors such as the oral contraceptive pill, smoking, a woman’s immune system and the presence of other infections also seem to play a part, a woman has to have been infected with certain ‘high-risk’ HPV types before cervical cancer can develop. High risk types 16 & 18 are responsible for ~70% of all cervical cancers. Abnormal cervical cells are also caused by HPV infection, and these may be detected when a woman has a routine Pap smear.
