Cervical cancer is a major health concern for all women. For centuries, the cause of cervical cancer was unknown. It wasn't until the 20th century that scientists understood that the disease was caused by exposure to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Vaccines against some forms of the virus are now widely available, but for most of recorded history, the causes of cervical cancer were completely misunderstood.
Classical References
The disease has been known since ancient times. In 400 BCE, the Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about the disease and even attempted to treat the cancer with a procedure known as the trachelectomy, although he found that nothing he did could eradicate the cancer. This procedure, later used for a brief period in the 1940s, involves removing the cervix and linking the vaginal canal directly to the uterus.
Mistaken Theories of Causation
For centuries, doctors were confused as to the cause of cervical cancer. The first theory rose to prominence in 1842 in Florence, when a doctor noticed that married women and prostitutes were susceptible to cervical cancer, but nuns had a very low incidence of the cancer. However, because nuns did suffer from breast cancer, it was incorrectly determined that the cause of both diseases was tight corsets.
Flash forward to the 20th century. In the 1950s, doctors were convinced that cervical cancer was caused by smegma. In the 1970s, the prevailing thought in American medicine was that cervical cancer was linked to herpes, which was also incorrect.
The First Breakthrough
While the majority of doctors were completely in the dark when it came to understanding cervical cancer, one doctor had a breakthrough that came from an unlikely source. In the 1930s, Dr. Richard Shope of the Rockefeller University studied wild rabbits that had developed "horns," which upon further analysis, was caused by a virus that could be transmitted. This research eventually led to the discovery that cervical cancer was caused by a papillomavirus.
zur Hausen
Dr. Shope paved the way for Dr. Harald zur Hausen's work in the 1980s. It was zur Hausen who, thanks to advances in DNA technology, was able to show that the virus was a papillomavirus. With the cause of cervical cancer finally understood, doctors could begin working on better treatments and vaccines.
Gardasil
In 2006, the vaccine Gardasil was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of cervical cancer. The vaccine targets select strains of the human papillomavirus, specifically types 6, 11, 16 and 18.
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