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| Can oral sex cause throat cancer |
Throat cancer has increased rapidly in the West over the past two decades, with some calling it an epidemic.
This is due to a large increase in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer, which affects the area around the tonsils and the back of the throat.
The main cause is human papillomavirus (HPV), which is also the cause of many cases of cervical cancer. Currently, oropharyngeal cancer is more common than cervical cancer in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Oropharyngeal cancer is one of the ten most diagnosed cancers in Spain, with approximately 8,000 new cases each year. It is a serious problem in Central and South America and oral cancer deaths are expected to increase by 17.2% by 2030.
Human papillomavirus is sexually transmitted. According to experts, a person's risk of oropharyngeal cancer is lower or higher depending on the number of sexual partners during his life, and oral sex can also be an important factor.
People who had six or more oral sex partners in their lifetime were 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who never had oral sex.
80% of adults have oral sex
Studies of behavioral trends show that oral sex is highly prevalent in some countries.
My colleagues and I studied almost 1,000 people in the UK who had tonsillectomy for reasons other than cancer. 80% of them had had oral sex at some point in their lives.
Fortunately, however, only a few of these individuals were diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer.
Although it is still not entirely clear what causes this cancer, it is generally believed that most of us have an HPV infection and most of us can clear it completely from our throats. I succeed.
However, few people are not able to get rid of this infection. This may be due to a malfunction in a certain aspect of their immune system.
In such individuals, the virus can continuously replicate and over time integrates into random positions in the person's DNA, causing their cells to become cancerous.
Is there a vaccine to prevent it?
HPV vaccine for young women has been introduced in many countries to prevent cervical cancer.
There is evidence, although the evidence is still circumstantial, that it may also be effective in preventing HPV infection in the mouth.
There is also evidence that in countries where vaccination rates among girls are high, at around 85%, boys can be protected through 'herd immunity'. Increased protection is expected to lead to a decrease in cancer over the next few decades.
From a public health point of view, this sounds good, but only if the vaccination rate among girls is more than 85% and if they remain in the 'herd' that has been protected.
However, this does not guarantee protection at the individual level, especially during international travel. For example, if a person has sex with people from countries with relatively low vaccination rates.
It certainly does not provide any protection in countries where vaccination rates among girls are low. For example, in the United States, in 2020, only 54.3 percent of adolescent girls aged 13-15 had received two or three doses of vaccination.
Boys should also be vaccinated
Due to this, many countries, including the UK, Australia, and the US, have expanded their vaccination policy to include young people.
However, the existence of a universal vaccination policy does not guarantee that it will reach all individuals. HPV vaccination is opposed in some places. This is due to safety, the need, or in some cases the motivation for people to have multiple sexual partners.
There is some evidence from population studies that adolescents may engage in oral sex, at least initially, in an attempt to avoid intercourse. Most of them do not know that it can also be dangerous.
Hisham Mehna is a Professor at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.