HPV test largely unnecessary, doctors advise
Recently a young woman posed a question to the “Ask the Expert” section on the Healthy Women (HW) website. The site is the nation’s leading independent health information source for women, providing information and answers about women’s personal health care questions for more than 20 years. The 32-year-old woman said she asked her health care provider about an HPV test, but the doctor told her she doesn’t need it, and she wondered why. HPV stands for human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer. Isn’t all preventive testing a good thing, she wondered? The answer may surprise you.