by Peggy Girshman
“An individual who has six or more lifetime partners — on whom they’ve performed oral sex – has an eightfold increase in risk compared to someone who has never performed oral sex … The recent rise in oropharynx cancer is predominantly among young, white men …”
If you’re keeping score, here’s even more evidence that HPV causes oral, head and neck cancers and that vaccines may be able to prevent it.
Researchers studying the human papillomavirus say that in the United States HPV causes 64 percent of oropharynxl cancers. In the rest of the world, tobacco remains the leading cause of oral cancer, Dr. Maura Gillison of Ohio State University told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this past weekend.
And the more oral sex someone has had — and the more partners they’ve had — the greater their risk of getting these cancers, which grow in the middle part of the throat. “An individual who has six or more lifetime partners — on whom they’ve performed oral sex – has an eightfold increase in risk compared to someone who has never performed oral sex,” she said.
The recent rise in oropharnx cancer is predominantly among young, white men, she noted, though she says no one has figured out why yet. About 37,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with oral cancer in 2010, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation.
See complete article here.
Editor’s note: The HPV vaccine is only effective against a small percentage of the HPV viruses out there. Furthermore, to be most effective, it needs to be taken before the onset of sexual activity. In addition, there are some very troubling reports of side effects. Limiting one’s sexual partners is a far more cost-effective way of preventing throat cancers that effectively result from promiscuity. Do I really need to tell you that casual hookups are hazardous to your health?