[Harry!]

Jade Goody's very public battle with cervical cancer has led thousands more women to seek information about the disease.

On the day the reality TV star was diagnosed in August 2008, Cancer Research UK witnessed ten times the usual number of hits to its website.

Before Jade was diagnosed, the cervical cancer section of the website received around 2,000 to 3,000 hits each day.

On the day of her diagnosis, this jumped to 32,000 and visitor numbers have been two to three times higher than usual ever since.

Some cervical screening teams across the UK also reported a rise in the number of women attending their appointments for smear tests.

Historically, the number of young women attending screening has been falling all across the UK.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under 35 but the vast majority of cases still occur in women who are older.

Among under 35s, there were just 671 new cases in the UK in 2005, compared with more than 2,300 new cases in women over this age.

Another 24,000 women get smear test results each year showing severely abnormal changes to the cells of their cervix, indicating the likelihood of cancer unless treatment is given.

Signs of cervical cancer can be picked up through smear tests, or women may experience symptoms such as bleeding between periods, after or during sex, or pain or discomfort after or during sex.

The chances of survival are good if the disease is caught early, indicating that Jade's disease was identified at a later stage.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090322/...s-dba1618.html

[Annie]

If only the NHS were not knocking girls back from getting a smear test if they are under the age of 20. Would help a lot.

I have been knocked back from getting one twice now.

[Lewis.]

Originally posted by Annie
If only the NHS were not knocking girls back from getting a smear test if they are under the age of 20. Would help a lot.

I have been knocked back from getting one twice now.

No way! I would have thought that Jade would have changed everything