FDA approves self-collection test for virus that causes cervical cancer

The Food and Drug Administration this week moved to expand screening for potentially lethal cervical cancer by allowing women to collect test samples themselves, a move that reproductive health advocates view as crucial to stamping out the preventable disease.

For the first time, women will be able to gather samples for testing in private rooms inside offices of primary-care doctors, at urgent-care clinics and even pharmacies — an advance that could presage home testing.