Source: US National Library of Medicine
Cytological screening for cervical cancer (the Pap smear or Pap test) is often only presented as a an unquestionable success of medical technology.
After its introduction in the 1940s, cervical cancer incidence rates have decreased and this method of screening for tumors became a model for other malignancies: breast, colon and prostate.
However, the Papanicolaou test can also bring controversies, such as the psychological impact on woman.
This is the topic of Cancer, women, and public health: the history of screening for cervical cancer, written by the researcher Ilana Löwy,from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Médicale Paris.
The paper follows the early history of the Pap smear showing how it became a routine screening test.
It then analyzes the consequences of diffusion of Pap test, controversies surrounding this test, and the lessons of screening for cervical tumors to other malignancies.
is also a member of the scientific editorial board of HCS-Manguinhos.
Read more:
Zika virus and rubella: similarities and differences – Researcher Ilana Löwy, from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Médicale Paris, traces a parallel between the current zika epidemics in Brazil and past rubella outbreaks.
Löwy, Ilana and Sanabria, Emilia. A biomedicalização de corpos brasileiros: perspectivas antropológicas. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Mar 2016, vol.23, no.1, p.11-18. ISSN 0104-5970
Löwy, Ilana. Ludwik Fleck e a presente história das ciências. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Out 1994, vol.1, no.1, p.7-18.
Löwy, Ilana. Representação e intervenção em saúde pública: vírus, mosquitos e especialistas da Fundação Rockefeller no Brasil. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Fev 1999, vol.5, no.3, p.647-677. ISSN 0104-5970
