Oral sex increases throat cancer risk by 250%

You may not think that oral sex can put you at risk of being infected with a disease, but beware for a new study has found that people who have had more than five oral-sex partners in their lifetime are 250 percent more likely to have throat cancer.

London, May 10 : You may not think that oral sex can put you at risk of being infected with a disease, but beware for a new study has found that people who have had more than five oral-sex partners in their lifetime are 250 percent more likely to have throat cancer.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore wp conducted the study now believe that this happens because oral sex may transmit human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that is present in the majority of cervical cancers.

They are now encouraging people to use protection such as condoms even during oral sex, as this could protect against HPV.

As a part of the study, researchers led by Maura Gillison collected blood and saliva samples from the throats of 100 patients diagnosed with cancers of the tonsils or back of the throat, as well as samples from 200 healthy people to compare the results to.

The researchers deduced whether a person had ever had an HPV infection by combining the blood and saliva samples with antibody molecules.

All of the study participants provided researchers with information about their sexual history, including the number of people with whom they had engaged in oral sex.

The analysis of the samples showed that people who had one to five oral-sex partners in their lifetime had approximately a doubled risk of throat cancer compared with those who never engaged in this activity.

They found that the risk increased to 250 percent in people who had more than five oral-sex partners.

The researchers found an even stronger link between oral sex and throat cancers clearly caused by HPV-16, a particularly aggressive strain of the virus, with the analysis showing that people with more than five oral sex partners had a 750 percent increased risk of HPV-16-caused cancers.

"This study is important because it is putting all of the pieces together. We need to add oral HPV infection to the list of risks for oral cancer," the New Scientist quoted lead author Maura Gillison, as saying.

The researchers also found that people who had prior infection with HPV were 32 times as likely to have this cancer, and that those who tested positive for HPV-16, were 58 times more likely to have throat cancer.

Other experts say that the results provide more reason for men to receive the new HPV vaccine.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

ANI