Yahoo Lifestyle Vinegar cancer test could save lives
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A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women.
The low-tech test shows up cancerous cells by swabbing the cervix with vinegar. It costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training without any elaborate lab equipment.
Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome "amazing" and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by improving early detection rates, making treatment more successful.
Usha Devi, one of the women in the study, says it saved her life.
"Many women refused to get screened. Some of them died of cancer later," Devi said. "Now I feel everyone should get tested. I got my life back because of these tests."
Devi is one of many women in India that had to be convinced to join the study, due to the deeply conservative culture of the country.
Still, social workers who were sent into the slums were able to win people over. And researchers reported that the quality of screening by the health workers was comparable to that of an expert gynecologist.
The study was planned for 16 years, but results at 12 years showed lives were saved with the screening.
Officials in India already are making plans to expand the vinegar testing to a wider population.
