Health Newsfeed # 990
VINEGAR TEST FOR CERVICAL CANCER
An item commonly found on a supermarket shelf may help save the lives of countless women in developing countries.
The item is vinegar. A recent Johns Hopkins study in Africa found that when
it was swabbed on a patient's cervix, any tissue harboring precancerous lesions turned
white...very apparent to the naked eye. The test is safe, affordable and just about as effective as
a Pap smear. It detected more than 75 per cent of potential cases of cervical cancer among the
women tested. Since Pap smears aren't readily available in many less developed countries, the
vinegar screening test is doubly important, says researcher Dr. Paul Blumenthal.
We can now offer women in developing countries a promise of prevention
for cervical cancer. This test could make cervical cancer screening accessible and affordable,
where in the past virtually no real method of screening existed. :15
More than 10-thousand women participated in the study. Health care workers needed only about a week of training to properly administer the test and correctly interpret its results.
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Tom Haederle reporting.
Copyright 1999 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved. March.13/The Lancet
