The future of the HPV test has changed for women.

KTVZ has reported that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first HPV DNA test as the primary screening method for cervical cancer in women.

The HPV DNA test was initially approved back in 2011, but only for use alongside or as a follow-up to a Pap test.

The FDA officially announced approval of the method on Thursday after a FDA advisory committee recommended that this specific form of testing become the first line of screening.

The approval is reportedly limited to women over the age of 24.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, reports WZZM13.

The Pap test, which has been the standard method of screening for 60 years now, is designed to only search for abnormal cells that could indicate cervical cancer.

The newly approved HPV test actually looks for DNA from the virus. Both methods require a vaginal swab so procedures at the doctor's office won't be different.

Dr. Kevin Ault, professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City explained the benefits of the HPV DNA test, stating, "The potential benefit of (the HPV test) is that everybody that has a precancerous change or cervical cancer will have a positive test."

He added, "You're not going to miss anybody."

HPV is reportedly very common amongst women. At least 70 percent of people who are sexually active will get a genital HPV infection at some point in their lives, reports the National Cancer Institute.

Ault explained, "Most people who get HPV only have it for a few months or a year and then it goes away. It's really the people it persists in that are going to have the problem."

Although the HPV DNA test may take a while to replace because gynecologists are used to doing the traditional Pap smear, there are hopes that the new method will be widely practiced soon.