Occurrence of woman cervical cancer in South Bohemian Region.

Cervical cancer represents an enormous health, psychological and social stress for every woman. The most important risk factor in the development of cervical carcinoma, which the second most common malignant cancer in women, is infection with a high-risk strain of human papillomavirus - a very frequent sexually transmitted disease. More than 100 types of HPV are acknowledged to exist, with HPV 16 and 18 being classified as high-risk types in particular. Worldwide, 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed every year. In the Czech Republic, there are 1,000 new cases of cervical cancer each year, out of which up to 400 women die. It is estimated that there will be up to 1,000,000 new cases of cervical cancer by 2050 unless the prevention is improved. Every woman is at risk of developing cervical cancer. HPV is sexually transmitted, however not only by sexual intercourse but also by skin-to-skin-contact with infected areas. Other risk factors in the development of the disease are: first sexual intercourse at early age, the number of sexual partners, smoking, other sexually transmitted diseases and a long term use of hormonal contraception. Use of condoms, which protects against sexually transmitted diseases, reduces the transmission of HPV by up to 70%. Having regular gynaecological check-ups with Pap smears is crucial for cervical cancer screening, as the screening suggests the presence of cytological abnormalities and pre-cancer. However, it cannot detect all types of premalignant changes and early stages of the carcinoma. Two vaccines have recently been developed, effective against the most frequent oncogenic strains of HPV (16 and 18), which currently cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. Active immunisation against human papillomavirus is the first vaccination against carcinoma. Together with screening, it represents the best prevention method against cervical carcinoma. Based on the research of technical literature, the first part of the dissertation gives an overall view of the issue of cervical carcinoma. The second part of the dissertation deals with the research, eliciting the knowledge and attitude of women from Southern Bohemian towns in the field of cervical carcinoma prevention in the period of December 2008 - March 2009 and comparing it to technical literature