Oral s*x is fueling an 'epidemic' of throat cancers in the US and UK, a doctor has claimed.
Dr. Hisham Mehanna, from the UK's University
of Birmingham, said 70 percent of cases of throat cancer are caused by human
papillomavirus (HPV), a normally harmless virus that is spread sexually and has
been linked to multiple forms of cancers.
Dr. Mehanna said people with multiple oral
s*x partners have an up to nine-fold increased risk of throat cancer. He wrote
in The Conversation: 'Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid
increase in throat cancer in the west, to the extent that some have called it
an epidemic.
'This has been due to a large rise in a
specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer.'
Oropharyngeal cancer is the most common type
of throat cancer. It appears in the tonsils and back of the throat.
Doctors consider HPV infection to be the
biggest risk factor for developing the disease.
Dr. Mehanna continued: 'HPV is sexually
transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of
lifetime sexual partners, especially oral s*x.
'Those with six or more lifetime oral-s*x partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those
who do not practice oral s*x.'
More than 50,000 cases of oral or
oropharyngeal cancer are diagnosed in the US each year, causing more than
10,000 annual deaths.
The number of cases is growing, however, up
to 1.3 percent a year in women and 2.8 percent in men, according to the American
Cancer Society.
Doctors have found that oral s*x is the
biggest risk factor for them outpacing smoking, alcohol consumption, and an
unhealthy diet.
This is because the acts can lead to an HPV
infection at the back of the throat or near the tonsil.
These infections go away on their own in most
cases but sometimes can persist and cause cancer.
Scientists at NYU Langone estimate that as
much as 70 percent of throat cancer cases are caused by HPV infections.
In the UK, head and neck cancers combined are
responsible for more than 12,000 cases and 4,000 deaths per year.
HPV is a common virus spread through vaginal,
anal, and oral s** with someone who is already infected.
إرسال تعليق