Oral sex increases the risk of throat cancer

Oropharyngeal cancer is an increasingly serious problem in Central and South Americato the extent that by 2030, an increase in mortality from oral cavity cancer of 17.2% is expected.

Its main cause is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is also behind many cases of cervical cancer.

HPV is sexually transmitted. In the case of oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of sexual partners during a lifetime, especially due to the practice of oral sex.

People with six or more oral sex partners in their lifetime are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not engage in oral sex.

According to Professor Hisham Mehanna, from the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, studies of behavioral trends show that oral sex is widespread in some countries.

“In a study conducted by my colleagues and I with about a thousand people undergoing tonsillectomy for non-cancer reasons, in the UK 80% of adults say they have had oral sex at some point in their lives,” Mehanna told the BBC.

The professor points out that “fortunately, only a small number of these people develop oropharyngeal cancer”.

Mehanna explains that while most people who get HPV infections can get rid of them completely, there are a small number of people who can’t get rid of the infection.

“In these patients, the virus is capable of continuous replication and, over timeintegrates into random positions in the host’s DNA, some of which can cause host cells to become cancerous,” he says.

As for fears that the HPV vaccine encourages promiscuity, the expert noted that there is some evidence from population studies that, possibly in an effort to refrain from penetrative sex, young adults may practice oral sex, at least initially. Without realizing that this also represents a risk.