Pap Smear Test: What Diseases & Conditions Are Detected?

A pap smear tests for a variety of vaginal and cervical diseases and conditions, allowing health care providers to treat these diseases and conditions before they advance.

Cervical Cancer

• Pap smears are performed primarily in order to detect the presence of cells on the cervix that are either associated with cervical cancer, or are cancerous. Pap smears can detect cells that are in the process of mutating, which can be precancerous, and can also detect cancerous cells that indicate cancer in progress.

HPV

• Pap smears can also detect cell changes that are indicative of infection with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can increase a woman's chances of developing cervical cancer.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

• Pap smears can detect other sexually transmitted diseases, including herpes and chlamydia.

Yeast Infections

• Yeast infections can be detected by pap tests, although a pap test is not required to diagnose a yeast infection.

Other Infections

• Other infections, such as bacterial vaginosis, will also be detected by pap tests, but do not require pap tests for diagnosis.