publicity is there, but ppl feel too embarassed to get their privates examined and cells taken....In the UK, there is a call back system for ppl who miss their pap smears when its time to take them, therefore their coverage rate is quite high. We dont have that here yet. Ppl usually forget or dont bother with their screening especially since it is only to be done 3 yearly.

Anyways, with reference to your earlier post, clue cells are found in bacterial vaginosis, the atypical cells in pap smears have a whole range of classifications based on the Bathesda system.

yup. and clue cells are usually seen on a vaginal wet mount and not a pap smear. A wet mount is usually taken from a sample of the fluid from the vagina and put on a glass slide. A pap smear is taken via a scraping from the cervix and then rubbed onto a glass slide and fixed with alcohol.

No. A high vaginal swab is usually for culture of the organism. A cotton tip applicator similar to a cotton bud is used to take a sample from the posterior fornix. It is then placed into a tube with transport medium and sent to the lab. The lab will culture the applicator to see what organisms grow and determine the type of infection

A wet mount can be a clinic procedure and does not need to be sent to the lab. Just take a bit of fluid and smear it on a slide with normal saline and view it under a microscope. U may see flagellated organisms to suggest a vaginal trichomoniasis or u may see clue cells to suggest bacterial vaginosis.

glad you know. Hope everyone learns as well. But remember the word of advise at the top of the section page. This is no substitute for formal medical advise. Always remember while things are generally the same, your condition may vary from others in ways that can only be considered by a clinician in direct contact with you. So there is no substitute for that. And besides, no qualified doctor would give you medical advice over the internet as it is not accurate to do so. Only general advice regarding the condition as health education is permissable. No diagnosis or prescriptions should be considered here.

yeah.....just hope everyone else understands that too. Gets me worried sometimes to see ppl blindly following advice in these threads without checking it out first, especially regarding dubious remedies which actually might make the condition worse.

well to provide more explaination, the HPV DNA is not a standalone test. It has to be used together with the Pap Smear. This is simply because many ppl have HPV infection including the guys and all will test positive with the DNA test. However, not all will develop cervical CA.

On the other hand, if you have an inconclusive smear result. You could do one of three things. Repeat the smear in 3 months, do an HPV DNA, or go for a colposcopy.

The HPV DNA just provides more evidence that there may be an underlying carcinoma and patients with inconclusive pap smear with HPV DNA positive should undergo a colposcopy.

about 70% is caused by HPV 16 and 18 . Another 25% is caused by other HPV strains. about another 5% is caused by non HPV related causes.

Another risk factor for cervical CA is smoking. So please do stop.

It is a practice....doctors should and probably are advising mothers to get their pap smears after delivery as it is one way of catching them. But sadly, they do not follow up with 3 yearly pap smears after that.

It is effective, only that it is expensive. About 900-1200 for 3 doses, depending on where. But the thing is that, having the vaccine does not exempt you from having a 3 yearly pap smear.