Whatever You Do--Do NOT, I Repeat, Do NOT Tell The Women About This !!!

Keith · #1 05-11-2007, 09:57 AM

Oral Sex Spreads Virus, Might Lead to Throat Cancer

By Michelle Fay Cortez

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- The virus that causes cervical cancer may be linked to throat cancer in people who engage in oral sex, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A study in 300 adults found that those infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, who had oral sex with more than six partners, were three times as likely to get throat cancer. The research was included in a package of studies and commentary on the virus in today's issue of the journal.

The throat cancer study didn't explore whether Gardasil, the Merck & Co. HPV vaccine approved by U.S. regulators in June, would protect against oral infections. The findings may spur new debate over use of the drug -- already the center of controversy over whether schoolgirls should be inoculated. Oral HPV infection occurs in both men and women who engaged in this type of sex.

Our results and those of other studies provide a rationale for HPV vaccination in both boys and girls,'' said the researchers, led by Gypsyamber D'Souza, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

The number of cancers found on the tonsils and the base of the tongue is on the rise, and "widespread oral sexual practices among adolescents may be a contributing factor in this increase,'' the researchers said.