OK .... One UP for Smokers ....

[Scb11980]

Oral sex virus may surpass smoking as cause of throat cancer

by Taurus on Wed 05 Oct, 2011 8:14 am

 

Reuters

 

NEW YORK - Cancer of the back of the mouth and throat is on the rise, primarily because of the spread of a viral infection called human papillomavirus (HPV), researchers report in a new study.

 

Dr Maura Gillison at the Ohio State University and her colleagues studied throat tumour samples collected over a 20-year period and found that the number of people who were diagnosed with HPV-linked oral cancer in 2004 tripled the number in 1988, surging to 72 per cent from about 16 per cent.

 

The type of throat cancer they examined, called oropharyngeal, originates in the back of the tongue, the soft part of the roof of the mouth, the tonsils, or the sides of the throat.

 

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, estimates that HPV-linked oral cancers now afflict 26 out of every million people in the United States, compared to eight out of every million people in 1988.

 

HPV-linked oral cancers strike men more than women, although it is unclear why, Gillison said.

 

By 2020, HPV-linked throat tumours will have become more common than HPV-linked cervical cancer and may even surpass smoking as the leading cause of throat cancers.

 

Previously, tobacco had been the primary cause of oral cancer, and most oral cancer cases were HPV-negative. Gillison's group found that HPV-negative cancers have been cut in half since the 1980s.

 

Researchers suspect this is due to changes in sexual behavior that have helped spread the virus.

 

Related:

 

[1fast1]

We need some snappy slogans like:

 

Say NO to BLOW

 

or

 

It is cunning to linger before cunnilingus.

 

or

 

Use your head before you give head.

[Yattokame]

Suck? That sucks.

 

[Rncw]

mabbe must cut down eating cheesepies....

[Assaxefour]

how is that a "up" for smoker? No matter how much 1 blows, smoking will cause cancer

Edited March 23, 2012 by Assaxefour