I'd wondered about this, but never asked. But my intuition on the HPV matter has proved to be correct.

The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer also sharply increases the risk of certain types of throat cancer among people infected through oral sex, according to a study being published today.

The study, involving 100 people with throat cancer and 200 without it, found that those infected with the human papillomavirus were 32 times as likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus. Although previous research had indicated HPV caused oral cancer, the new study is the first to definitively establish the link, researchers said.

"It makes it absolutely clear that oral HPV infection is a risk factor," said Maura L. Gillison, an assistant professor of oncology and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, who led the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings could help explain why rates of oral cancer have been increasing in recent years, particularly among younger people and those who are not smokers or heavy drinkers, which had long been the primary at-risk groups, experts said.

"There's been a kind of sea change in the last 10 years in who we're seeing with these cancers," Gillison said. "It makes sense with some changes we've seen in sexual behavior."

Maybe this will serve as notice to some of our young people that oral sex has consequences, too, and is not simply a safe way of having a good time -- or an entertaining form of party game.

But I'm also struck by the time frame of the change in throat cancer patients. What could have happened 10 years ago that would lead to such a change?

Posted by: Greg at 09:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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