Will women soon be testing themselves for human papilloma virus, or HPV ? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The American Cancer Society has updated guidelines for cervical cancer screening to include self-collected specimens to assess for human papilloma virus, or HPV. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, explains why.

Nelson: There's 200,000 women each year are treated for the cancer precursor they call cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, CIN. Usually what you're after when you're screening for cervical cancer you're screening for that. If we treat that women tend not to get cervical cancer and certainly not to die from it. We've learned that cervical cancer is basically caused by a chronic infection with a fraction of the papilloma viruses, HPV. if you get an adequate HPV test, if you test yourself is that as adequate as if a physician went in there and tested you and it's pretty close, which is they're recognizing here.    :34

Nelson says it may not be long before women may test themselves at home, but they will still need follow up for positive results. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.