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Oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer

Home> News

Published 19:23 26 Apr 2023 GMT+1

Oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer

Scientists claim that fellatio is now the biggest cause of the cancer

Rhiannon Ingle

Rhiannon Ingle

A scientist has revealed that oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer.

The professor has collected research over the past two decades and has found a steep increase in throat cancer in the western world which has been so rapid that some researchers are going as far as to call it an 'epidemic'.

Much of this is due to one particular type of throat cancer, which is located on the area of the tonsils in the back of the throat.

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The cancer in question has been identified as oropharyngeal cancer with the main cause for the fast rise of cases being due to the human papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV, which is sexually transmitted, is also the predominant cause of cancer of the cervix which is the lower, narrow end of the uterus that forms a canal between the uterus and vagina.

A scientist has revealed that oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer.
Scientific Animations/Wikimedia Commons

Hisham Mehanna, Professor at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences for the University of Birmingham, has stated that oropharyngeal cancer is now now common than cervical cancer in both the US and UK.

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Mehanna explains: "For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex.

"Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practise oral sex."

In a study conducted by the professor and his team, they found that '80 percent of adults reported practising oral sex at some point in their lives' in the UK.

"Yet, mercifully," he assures, "only a small number of those people develop oropharyngeal cancer."

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The team of researchers have not yet found why this is the case.

Mehanna reports that the 'prevailing theory' is many people catch HPV infections and are able to clear them entirely.

"For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex."
Yan Krukau / Pexels

"However, a small number of people are not able to get rid of the infection, maybe due to a defect in a particular aspect of their immune system," he warns.

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For those particular patients, HPV begins to 'replicate continuously' and over a period of time the virus begins to integrate into the host's DNA.

The expert explains that this is what causes the host cells to 'become cancerous'.

The new research has pushed many countries, including Australia along with the United Kingdom and the States, to roll out a 'gender-neutral vaccination policy'.

This means that such countries will 'extend their national recommendations for HPV vaccination to include young boys' as well as girls.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy / Ruslan Ruslan / Andriy Popov

Topics: Health, Science, Cancer, Sex and Relationships, News

Rhiannon Ingle
Rhiannon Ingle

Rhiannon Ingle is a Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from the University of Manchester in 2021 in English Literature. Alongside her studies, she was the Lifestyle Editor of The Mancunian, the largest student newspaper in the United Kingdom. Her favourite topics to write about include sex and relationships, bizarre lifestyle trends and all things travel.

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