Image of a pap smear test. Picture source: SURJEN Healthcare
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Claim: An X user claims menstrual blood can be used for cervical cancer screening and is as accurate as a Pap smear.
Verdict: Misleading! Although ongoing research shows promising results for menstrual blood testing, it is still in the research phase and is not an approved or standard screening method. There are three main ways to screen for cervical cancer: HPV testing, Pap smear or HPV/Pap Smear co-testing.
Full Text
Cervical cancer develops in a woman’s cervix (the entrance to the uterus from the vagina). Almost all cervical cancer cases (99%) are linked to infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus transmitted through sexual contact.
Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria, with approximately 12,075 new cases and 7,968 deaths annually. It is the second leading cause of female cancer deaths in the country, with over 60 million women aged 15 and older at risk. Almost 70% of cases are linked to HPV types 16 or 18.
Ba sing slay (@kigutasheilaa) on X shared (archived here) that Pap smears are not the only way to test for cervical cancer. The post explains that menstrual blood can be used for screening, and it is just as accurate.
As of Feb. 6, 2026, the claim had garnered 171 comments, 2,900 reposts, 34,000 likes, and 2,500 bookmarks.
Boity (@Boity01948288) in the comment section queried, “Why did they have to make us go through that pain all along?”
Another user, Mazị Anasụachara ya ana eru (@anasuachara), welcoming the development noted, “That is wild and makes so much sense. If we can skip the awkward and painful part and still catch cancer early, why is this not everywhere? Medicine should not feel like a horror show. Simple wins save lives.”
Given that this is a public health issue and the post’s virality, DUBAWA decided to fact-check it.
What is cervical cancer screening?
Cervical cancer screening is the process of collecting cervical cells to check for changes caused by HPV. This process is called the Pap test, also called a Pap smear or cervical cytology. These cell changes, if left untreated, turn into cervical cancer.
The goal of screening for cervical cancer is to find precancerous cervical cell changes to prevent cervical cancer from developing. Sometimes, cancer is found during cervical screening. Cervical cancer found at an early stage is usually easier to treat. By the time symptoms appear, cervical cancer may have begun to spread, making treatment more difficult.
According to the National Cancer Institute, there are three main ways to screen for cervical cancer.
- The human papillomavirus (HPV) test. This checks cells for infection with high-risk HPV types that can cause cervical cancer.
- The Pap. This test collects cervical cells so they can be checked for changes caused by HPV that may turn into cervical cancer. It can find precancerous cells and cervical cancer cells. A Pap test also sometimes finds conditions that are not cancer, such as infection or inflammation.
- The HPV/Pap co-test. This test uses an HPV test and a Pap test together to check for both high-risk HPV and cervical cell changes.
Using keyword search, we discovered that a small number of studies have reported that menstrual blood can be used as an alternative sample for HPV detection for cervical cancer screening. The researchers conducted a systematic review of studies reporting the diagnostic accuracy of menstrual blood for detecting HPV.
The studies showed the diagnostic accuracy of menstrual blood, with sensitivity ranging from 82.8% to 97.7% and specificity ranging from 50.0% to 98.0% for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or HPV infection.
This review supports the use of menstrual blood as a screening tool for cervical cancer, where women are reluctant to participate in cervical cancer screening because of embarrassment, discomfort or busy schedules.
However, further studies are required to compare the diagnostic accuracy of menstrual blood for HPV detection with other self-sampled HPV detection methods.
Another study conducted in China suggests that menstrual (period) blood collected using a sanitary pad may offer a convenient and non-invasive way to screen for cervical cancer by detecting human papillomavirus (HPV).
Researchers compared menstrual blood samples from over 3,000 women with clinician-collected cervical samples. They found the new method showed comparable sensitivity in detecting precancerous cervical abnormalities, although specificity was slightly lower.
While this study’s experts described the findings as promising and potentially helpful in improving screening access, they emphasised that the approach remains in the research stage and requires further large-scale studies before it can be integrated into standard cervical cancer screening programmes.
To assess whether menstrual blood testing is “just as accurate” as existing screening methods, it is important to compare its reported diagnostic performance with that of clinically approved cervical cancer screening techniques, including the Pap smear, HPV testing, and HPV/Pap co-testing.
The Pap smear has a sensitivity of about 50%–75% and a specificity of approximately 90%–95% for detecting precancerous cervical cell changes. Although a single test may not identify all abnormalities, its effectiveness improves through routine repeat screening.
The HPV test, on the other hand, shows higher performance, with sensitivity rates above 90%–95%. When combined in HPV/Pap co-testing, detection accuracy exceeds 95% for significant precancerous lesions, making it one of the most reliable screening approaches currently in use.
In comparison, studies exploring menstrual blood as a screening sample show more variable accuracy.
Experts Opinion
To clarify whether menstrual blood can be used for cervical cancer screening, DUBAWA spoke with Sunday Idoko, a gynaecologist at Garki, who explained that current HPV screening relies on samples taken directly from the cervix.
According to him, healthcare providers typically use cervical scrapings collected during screening procedures to detect HPV and abnormal cells. “They use cervical scrapings, and this is an emerging method”, he noted.
While research is exploring the possibility of using blood-based samples for testing, he noted that this approach remains an emerging method and has not replaced established cervical screening techniques.
We also spoke with Lynda Agim, another gynaecologist, who clarified that Pap smears remain the standard method used for cervical cancer screening. According to her, the procedure helps detect abnormal changes in cervical cells that may require further investigation.
“The claim is false. A Pap smear is used for screening. If anything suspicious is seen, a biopsy of the cervix would then be done, and it is the histology result from the biopsy that confirms the presence of cervical cancer,” she explained.
Xavier Bosch, a researcher at the Catalan Institute of Oncology, said the work was “very pioneering” but still in the research phase. “At the moment, its clinical applications are unclear.”
“Menstrual blood, like any cervical-vaginal fluid and urine, can carry cells from the genital/urinary tract, including viral markers (DNA; RNA). Therefore, detection has some value. The importance of the study lies in determining whether this value matches the performance of the DNA test in already-validated samples (cytology, urine, or self-sampling) or whether it identifies cases that escape conventional sampling.
Conclusion
The claim that menstrual blood testing can be used for cervical cancer screening and is “just as accurate” as a Pap smear is misleading. While research into menstrual blood testing shows some potential, it remains experimental and is not currently recognised as a standard replacement for clinically approved cervical cancer screening methods.
