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Cervical cancer has in recent years become a huge terror for all women. And with good reason! In the Czech Republic cervical cancer is diagnosed in up to 1100 patients annually and up to 400 women die from it each year.
How does the virus manifest?
A woman is usually infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) and this virus is transmitted sexually in 99.9% of cases. Therefore the most at risk are especially young girls who do not yet have a steady partner. If this virus appears in a woman, she usually does not even notice it and her immune system destroys it.
In some women, however, the virus develops into an infection and then into a tumor disease. A woman has no chance to notice that an infection is developing on her body, because no symptoms appear. Therefore doctors urge that every woman attends preventive gynecological check-ups, which usually occur at least once a year.
However, at the moment when you neglect this care and the infection develops into a malignant tumor, the following symptoms begin to appear:
The first symptom is usually bloody discharge or bleeding outside the menstrual cycle and after sexual intercourse
- Pain in the lower abdomen
- Difficulty when urinating (burning, stinging)
- Bleeding from the urethra or rectum
- Also swelling of the lower limbs
However, remember that these symptoms appear only in the advanced stage of the disease. In the initial phase, cervical cancer is more or less without symptoms. Therefore take care of your health and visit your gynecologist regularly!
