The rate of women contracting cervical cancer in Japan is growing, and the reason may be tied to a 2009 government decision to stop recommending vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV), a new study found. Also apparently at fault in the growth of the disease is a dearth of screening for cervical cancer.
According to the study in the journal Cancer Research, cervical cancer rates had been on the decline in Japan in the last quarter of the 20th century. But since the falloff in the vaccination program ten years ago, rates of cancer started climbing. Two strains of HPV account for more than 70% of all cervical cancer cases.