17-year-old girl has cervical cancer, mother thinks daughter is going astray, yells at hospital until doctor tells her the truth that most people never know
Many people mistakenly believe that never having sex will protect them from HPV and cervical cancer, but this is not the case.
Recently, there was a heartbreaking story of a 17-year-old. Girl named ‘Xiao Mei’, a high school girl in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. She found out that she had stage 3 cervical cancer, even though she had never had sex before.
Xiao Mei’s symptoms began with chronic pelvic pain, frequent periods of 3-4 times a month, and severe menstrual cramps that extended to her waist. Her family thought it was just a problem with irregular menstruation or fatigue from studying too hard.
But the doctor’s diagnosis revealed that she had stage 3 cervical cancer, with the tumor having spread to nearby tissues, including the pelvic area, lymph nodes, and pressing on her bladder and colon, causing great shock and concern to her family.
At the hospital, Xiao Mei’s mother exploded and scolded her loudly, believing that her misbehavior and bad behavior had caused her to develop the disease. Xiao Mei burst into tears, insisting that her life consisted of studying, living in the girls’ dormitory, and going home on weekends. She had never had a boyfriend and had never had sex.
The doctor explained that the cause of Xiao Mei’s cervical cancer was an HPV infection, which can occur even at a young age. Even if she has never had sex before.
Doctors warn of alternative routes of HPV infection other than sexual contact
In Xiao Mei’s case, Professor Qiao Youlin, head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Peking University People’s Hospital in China, said that this is not a rare case.
Professor Qiao explained that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) virus is a group of viruses in the Papillomaviridae family, which consists of more than 200 strains. Some strains cause warts on the ทางเข้า ufabet https://ufabet999.app skin or genitals. While others are linked to cancers such as cervical, oral and throat cancers. As well as penile and vaginal cancers. The strains with a high risk of causing cervical cancer are HPV-16 and HPV-18.
He also emphasized that although HPV is mainly spread through sexual contact, it is not the only route. It can be spread through direct skin-to-skin contact, such as hugging, kissing, or touching areas with sores, and it can also be spread through sharing personal items. Such as towels, toothbrushes, or clothing, as well as from mother to child during childbirth.
In addition, although it is rare, this virus can spread in unclean environments. Such as public swimming pools or public showers.
In addition, HPV infection does not mean that cervical cancer will develop immediately. The process from infection to cancer can take up to 10-20 years. In Xiao Mei’s case, although the exact cause of the infection is still unknown. It was found that she had been infected with HPV for many years. And there was pre-cancerous damage that went unnoticed until the tumor had spread. Hysterectomy was no longer an effective treatment.
From Xiao Mei’s story, Professor Qiao raised the importance of caring for reproductive health, especially for women. Preventing HPV infection should include a healthy lifestyle. Strengthening immunity, maintaining proper vaginal hygiene, practicing safe sex, and getting HPV vaccination.