MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Local News

Discussion

January 19, 2010

Cherokees offer info on cervical cancer

TAHLEQUAH — Because January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the Cherokee Nation is offering public education through a series of information booths to get answers to questions about the disease. The booths will be set up at the tribe’s health centers and at Cherokee Nation W.W. Hastings Hospital and Claremore Indian Hospital throughout the month.

Cervical cancer, a preventable disease, tends to occur in midlife. Most cases are found in women younger than age 50, and it rarely develops in women younger than age 20. Nearly 20 percent of women with cervical cancer are diagnosed when they are over age 65, so it is important for older women to continue having regular Pap tests.



There is a vaccine that prevents the types of genital human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.



The vaccine is given in three shots over a six-month period. The vaccine is routinely recommended for 11- and 12-year-old girls and for girls and women age 13 through 26 who have not yet been vaccinated or completed the vaccine series.

Exams can be provided at any Cherokee Nation health center, as well as W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah and the Claremore Indian Hospital.

Information: 453-5138.

Text Only
Local News