You should have a colonoscopy every 10 years starting at age 50. Alternatively, you may get a flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years, a double-contrast barium enema every five years or a CT colonography (virtual colonoscopy) every five years. However, a colonoscopy will be needed if any of those results are positive.
Jena Pincott explains that even after a mother gives birth, her babyâs cells remain inside her body â and work tiny wonders. In an excerpt from her book Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?, Pincott explains that pregnancy is really only the beginning for mother and baby cell-sharing.
When women are exposed to genital human papillomavirus (HPV), their immune systems usually prevent the virus from doing serious harm. But in a small number of women, the virus survives for years. Eventually, the virus can lead to the conversion of normal cells on the surface of the cervix into cancerous cells. At first, cells may only show signs of a viral infection. Eventually, the cells may develop precancerous changes.