<p><br /> Girls who have the cervical cancer jab may only need screening twice in their lifetime, an expert has said.<br /> </p><p><br /> Cervical cancer should become a "rare disease" thanks to the introduction of the vaccine, said Professor Peter Sasieni, from Queen Mary, University of London.<br /> </p><p><br /> Girls who have the jab when they are 12 or 13 would only need testing for the disease when they are 30 and 45, he said.<br /> </p><p><br /> The vaccine protects against key strains of the sexually-transmitted infection human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cervical cancer.<br /> </p><p><br /> Prof Sasieni suggests the current smear test programme, which sees women invited for screening every three to five years, could be replaced with HPV testing.<br /> </p><p><br /> The HPV test picks up 13 strains of the disease, which account for virtually all cervical cancer cases.<br /> </p><p><br /> It typically takes over 10 years for a cancer to develop after HPV infection. Research shows that cancer caused by HPV types not prevented by the current vaccines take even longer.<br /> </p><p><br /> "If you don't have one of these 13 types of HPV then your chance of getting cervical cancer in the next 10 years is really incredibly low," Professor Sasieni said.<br /> </p>
