According to the World Health Organization, there are 500,000 cases of cervical cancer and 250,000 women die from it each year. India is especially susceptible to the disease because pap smears are not available. It's the number one cancer killer of women there. However there has been a recent discovery of a very low-tech way to screen for cervical cancer, and it has been one of the top five studies presented at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago. Swabbing a woman's cervix with vinegar can apparently show abnormal cells on the surface of the cervix within one minute. "Within just one minute, the person administering the test - using the naked eye and a light - can see if there are abnormal cells on the surface of the cervix; abnormal cells turn white, because the acid in the vinegar makes protein in the nucleus of the abnormal cells coagulate and become easily visible."
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