“The Link Between Oral Sex and Throat Cancer: What You Need to Know”

Jakarta –

Oral sex is said by experts to be one of the main reasons for the many cases of throat cancer in the United States and Britain. Dr Hisham Mehanna from the University of Birmingham England explained that 70 percent of throat cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Dr Mehanna said people who had many oral sex partners had a ninefold greater risk of throat cancer.

Actually, the HPV vaccine is already available. But in America alone, only 54 percent of people get it. This number is still far from the target of 80 percent which is believed to be the threshold for population safety.

“Over the last two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the West, to the extent that some people call it an epidemic. This is due to a large increase in a certain type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer,” said Dr Mehanna quoted from Daily MailFriday (28/4/2023).

Oropharyngeal cancer is the most common type of throat cancer. Doctors consider HPV infection to be the biggest risk factor for this disease. Even beyond smoking, alcohol, and unhealthy eating patterns. These infections go away on their own but in many cases persist and cause cancer.

“HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex. Those who have had six or more lifetime oral sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not have sex. orally,” he explained.

According to the American Cancer Society, the number of cases of oropharyngeal and mouth cancer continues to increase by 1.3 percent per year in women and 2.8 percent in men. There are more than 50,000 diagnoses annually and it causes 10,000 deaths each year.

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