"There's a very large amount of HPV virus going around," Feuer said. It's not clear whether doctors are more aware of the virus or its prevalence has increased. But Feuer and others suspect that changes in sexual mores have accelerated the virus's spread.

Recently, questions have been raised about the quality of Pap smears in many laboratories. A study published last fall found that many Rhode Island women with advanced cervical cancer may have been the victims of faulty Pap smears that did not detect that cancer while it was still easily curable. That can happen if the doctor does not scrape off the right kinds of cells or if the lab technician fails to recognize cancerous cells.

In some out-of-state "Pap mills," overworked technologists scan hundreds of slides each day, but that does not appear to be happening in Rhode Island, DeBuono said. She also said most local doctors send the tests to Rhode Island labs.