BATON ROUGE — Cervical cancer was once one of the most common causes of cancer death for women in the United States, but the death rate has dropped by more than half since the 1970s.

It is thanks to prevention and screening, and now the American Cancer Society is updating screening guidelines.

First, the bad news, in the U.S. this year alone, it's estimated that more than 13,000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed, and more than 4,000 women will die from the disease, but the good news is those numbers have dropped dramatically over the years, but not everywhere.

"There are wide disparities in this country amongst cervical cancer rates, and particularly in rural areas and particularly in the rural South, we continue to see many women presenting to physicians with advanced cervical cancer,” Dr. William Dahut, Chief Scientific Officer of the American Cancer Society, said.

That's why the American Cancer Society is releasing these new guidelines today for cervical cancer screening aimed at reducing deaths from the disease. While the traditional method of a pap smear every five years remains the preferred screening method, there's now an acceptable option for women at average risk who don't want a pelvic exam.

Taking one of two FDA-approved self-collection tests is now recommended every three years as long as the results are negative through age 65.

"We know, particularly if it's difficult to make an appointment, some women may have privacy concerns initially, so we do think having the ability to have FDA-approved tests every 3 years for self-collection is a wonderful other option," Dr. Dahut said. 

For women older than age 65 who have had adequate prior screening and are not otherwise at high risk, screening is no longer recommended by the organization.

"If you're at higher risk because you have HIV disease, you have immunosuppression, um, you're, you're basically your screening should be done with the work through a physician," he said.